Scorpius Malfoy
by ThaniMag
Summary: The story of the teen with a lightning shaped scar and the dark lord Voldemort has come to a close, but the tale of young Scorpius Malfoy and his friends has just begun. Follow Scorpius as he learns and grows and travels the path that unfolds before him.
1. Prologue: The King's Guest

Prologue: The King's Guest

Five dark robed figures struggled up the road towards the castle on the cliff side. It was a dark and stormy night, and the wind tore mercilessly at their robes as they were lashed by the rain.

The figure in the middle stopped briefly and pulled the hood of his robe down farther in a futile attempt to shield his face. His escort, the four men that surrounded him, waited patiently and then started on again when he was ready.

As they continued to struggle towards the castle, the man being escorted looked out at the mighty, tumultuous, ocean. The ocean's massive breakers smashed into the cliff they walked upon as if they wished to break the cliff side and pull the men down into the depths of the sea.

The five men struggled on, bone weary. The friendly light that could be seen emanating from the castle's high windows egged them on and they doubled their pace.

After another quarter hour of battling against the strong wind, the five men stood outside the gates to the castle. One strode forwards and banged his large fist on the strong oak doors.

The doors swung inward almost instantly to reveal another man cloaked and hooded against the weather. He nodded curtly and stepped aside to let them through.

As the strong doors slammed behind him, the escorted man felt an ominous foreboding, as if he was trapped within them.

He was led across the grounds and into the castle itself; it was not much warmer inside, but it was dry, and they were protected from the rain and wind, thought the man with relief. One of the men escorting him held out his hand and asked in rough English for the man's wand. The man knew this standard procedure, which was always performed before seeing a king, so he gracefully handed over his wand.

He was led through many corridors and then into an eating hall. Unlike the corridors the man had been led through, this hall was warm, and a large fire roared in a stone hearth. A long table ran the length of the room; it was empty, except for at the head of the table, where, in a seat of silk and gold, sat a bearded blond man with a golden circlet about his head. He wore a robe lined with fur and ate from dishes of gold inlaid with jewels; behind his right shoulder a Danish flag flew.

He looked up as the man entered with his escort, but he didn't offer to rise, he merely set his fork and knife down.

The man who had been escorted in threw back his hood onto his shoulders to reveal unruly jet black hair, a scar like a lightning bolt on his forehead, and a pair of piercing green eyes that looked out from behind a pair of simple glasses. It was Harry Potter, savior of the world from the dark lord Voldemort. This was a much older Harry Potter; a middle-aged Harry who was in his low forties, and was diplomat for the English Minister of Magic.

Harry wondered absently what the king of Denmark was doing in this lone castle by the sea side, with hardly any subjects at hand, and without his wife or family.

The blond haired man, who was indeed the king of Denmark, waved his hand in a gesture for Harry to sit by his side. Harry bowed briefly before taking his place by the King's right side as dishes full of food appeared in front of him.

"What brings you here, Mr. Potter?" Asked the King in perfect English; he spoke grimly as if he already knew the answer.

Harry replied with an eloquence learned from years of diplomatic experience. "I am sent from the Minister of Magic, Michael Corner, to his majesty the king of Denmark on behalf of the people of England. The Minister implores you to believe that it was no Englishman that caused the disappearance of your son, the crown prince of Denmark, and asks you to not rise in arms against us."

The king looked grim. "Tell me who it could have been then? My son enjoys sailing, so he went out with his friends on a boating trip, and of course he had many royal guards along. He sailed far and was just off the coast of England, up at its northeastern coast. Suddenly they were set upon by a score of men on brooms, flying towards them from the English coast. A battle ensued, and lots of smoke and chaos, and when the smoke cleared, the attackers were gone, and so was my son.

"The body of my son was not found on board so I assume he is not dead but merely abducted. If this is not the work of Englishmen I do not know who it could be, and since you offer no ideas as to who it may be, and my country has no enemies, or so we thought, I must assume it was the work of Englishmen. Now you must understand me, I do believe you that your government was not behind it, but my people are asking questions: why do I sit here and do nothing while my son is held captive somewhere?

"So unless my son is returned to me, and soon, I must strike. I am sorry Mr. Potter; there is nothing you can do to change what I must do. Unless you can find my son and give him back."

"I am very sorry to hear that. Well then, if my cause is already lost, I feel that I must not intrude, and that I should return at once to my country," said Harry.

The king did not appear to have heard him, or merely ignored him. "This is not my usual abode; I merely came here to receive you, for indeed I suspected that you would be coming." Harry's brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"For indeed, this is not a king's castle," the king continued, "but rather, a castle kept for the comfort of important…guests." With a flash of intuition, Harry knew what was going on, and trepidation got a hold on him. "I am sorry Mr. Potter, but with your experience of diplomacy, you must understand."

"Yes, I understand." Harry replied stiffly.

The king rose and walked to the entrance to the hall, Harry stayed where he sat.

"You will be well taken care of. If you need anything you must just ask for it. I must travel back to my capital tonight. You will remain my guest here at the castle for as long as it takes to resolve this…situation. Goodbye, Mr. Potter."

Harry sat and brooded in silence by the fire a good while after the king left. There was no hurry, for he knew, despite all the king's elegant speech, he was a prisoner of Denmark until the prince should be found, or the tension somehow resolved.


	2. Events Set in Motion

Chapter 1: Events Are Set in Motion

The two seekers collided with a loud crash. One wore blue and white robes, and had unruly jet black hair, and piercing green eyes. The other wore canary yellow and black robes, and had silky blonde hair. They wrenched their brooms away from each other, while glaring at each other with fearsome expressions. "Curse you Malfoy!" the boy in blue spat.

"Sorry, didn't see you there _Potter_. Guess my eyes don't naturally look for gnats in my path." The boy addressed as Malfoy sneered back.

"Get in my way again Malfoy and I'll knock you off your br—"his voice was drowned out in the roaring of the crowd as a voice boomed out.

"Stephanie Bones scores for Hufflepuff! And the score is tied at eighty to eighty!"

Potter turned his broom and dived towards the floor without bothering to finish his sentence. Crap, did he see the snitch again already? wondered Malfoy. He abruptly turned and zoomed after Potter. He accelerated his broom to its full extent as he gained on Potter and the ground got closer and closer. He was merely a couple of feet behind Potter when the dark haired wizard reached out and grabbed the glinting snitch. With a yell Malfoy threw himself forwards and grabbed the tail of Potter's broom. The broom couldn't hold both their weights and crashed to the ground. The impact wrenched Potter's hand open and the snitch flew free.

Malfoy started to pull himself to his feet, but fell to the ground when Potter's body slammed into him. "I told you that if you got in my way again you would pay!" hissed Potter in his ear.

"Eat dirt Potter!" Malfoy hissed back. They grappled on the ground, not noticing as the other players came swooping in and landed on all sides, and the people in the crowd came leaping over the barriers and ran onto the field.

"Get off of my seeker, Potter!" roared Isaac Finch-Fletchy, the large seventh year who was Hufflepuff's captain and one of the chasers. He grabbed the back of Potter's robes and heaved him off. "I don't give junk that you're the prodigy of the century! You mess with my team and by God I'll tan your hide!" He bellowed in Potter's face.

"Let go of Albus!" yelled Martin Corner, a Ravenclaw beater, who pulled a wand out from his quidditch robes and brandished it at Isaac. Isaac slowly lowered Albus to the ground. Just then the crowd of people on either side parted, and the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw heads of houses came jostling through.

"What is the meaning of this Mr. Potter?" asked Luna Lovegood dreamily, Charms professor and head of Ravenclaw house.

Albus, who had been fuming silently at being man-handled, spoke up. "That _boy,_" he pointed at Malfoy, "knows nothing about the sport of quidditch, and plays it as if it were merely a brawl on brooms."

"I did nothing that was against the rule book." Malfoy jutted out his jaw. "And last time I checked, _boy_, we were both sixteen and of the same age, so you better watch who you call a boy."

"I was not referring to your age, merely the way you behave." Albus spoke with a glint in his eye.

Malfoy leaped forwards but was grabbed by Stephanie Bones. "Scorpius, _don't_," she whispered in his ear, and he subsided.

"Malfoy, subdued by a girl? Ha!" Scorpius jerked but didn't move from where he stood.

"That is ENOUGH Mr. Potter." Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and head of Hufflepuff house, spoke for the first time. "Now, if you will behave yourselves, we'll continue the match, and we'll have no more of your antics Malfoy." When no one moved he spoke more harshly. "Get on your brooms NOW!"

Reluctantly the players moved and clambered astride their brooms and rose slowly into the air. Albus and Scorpius were glaring up a storm at each other. The spectators clambered back into the stands, and the match started off again.

Both seekers were glowering and it was some while before the snitch was spotted again. This time it was Scorpius who spotted it. As he shot towards it, Albus caught sight of it as well and came towards it from the other direction. Scorpius saw Albus shooting in from the other direction and knew that if they both continued on the path they were on they would collide and most likely shatter their brooms, which would result in them falling the hundred or so feet to the ground. He saw the glint in Albus' eye and realized he wouldn't change direction. With a short burst of anger, Scorpius realized it would have to be him that changed direction. At the last moment before they collided, with the snitch in between them, Scorpius swerved to the left, but he threw out his hand in Albus' face in a hope that it would make him lose sight of the snitch; it didn't. Cheers and moans erupted from the stands simultaneously and Scorpius glided slowly towards the ground in defeat.

Albus streaked towards the ground and into the waiting arms of his team and housemates, the whole while holding the snitch aloft in triumph.

The locker rooms were a silent and cheerless place for the Hufflepuff quidditch team. They all sat staring at the floor gloomily. "Well," spoke up Isaac finally, "it doesn't mean much. We scored one hundred and ten points today and it's only the first game of the season, so we still have a glorious chance at the quidditch cup this year." Mutters of agreement spread around the room. "Don't be so down Scorpius, it's not your fault. Potter _is_ called the prodigy of the century, and he, well," Isaac shrugged, "has the seeker blood."

"Bogus!" yelled Scorpius springing to his feet. "I don't know what everyone sees in that kid! He's nothing special, only the son of the savior of the wizarding world. That doesn't make him better than anyone else. Prodigy of the century!" he sneered. "I'll show the world that a wizard whose only thing going for him is that he works hard, can beat the gifted prodigy that has all he could ask for. And I'm not just talking about in quidditch. You'll see, I'll surpass him in casting too, just wait!"

Isaac sighed, "No one doubts your heart Scorpius. But sometimes, life isn't fair and some people get all the talent, and frankly, that's not us Hufflepuffs." He shrugged, as if he had accepted this fate.

Scorpius shook his head. "I refuse to accept that. I _will _surpass Potter, just you wait!"

Scorpius and Stephanie walked up to the castle side by side. Scorpius was lost in his thoughts, staring at the ground as he continued to walk. Stephanie however was looking off into the sky. "You can do it you know."

"Wha—?" he looked up confused, emerging from his thoughts.

"I believe you can surpass him." She was still not looking at him, but looking with interest at the single cloud in the sky.

"You really think so?" he asked dubiously.

"Yes, I do."

"The one person in the world. I doubt there is anyone in England that thinks Potter can be surpassed, least of all by me, a nobody."

"You're not a nobody."

"Yes I am," he said firmly, "my family name was blemished by my grandfather's treachery, and if that wasn't enough, I was the first Malfoy to ever not be in Slytherin and I ended up in _Hufflepuff_."

"Hey! Hufflepuff isn't so bad, right?" she bumped his shoulder lightly.

He smiled wryly but went on. "And I was always a pretty abysmal caster, and the only skill I had was my decent flying." He was staring off into space. "It's only been in recent years, and after a lot of work, that I've become the decent caster I am now. No one ever expects me to amount to anything." He said despairingly to the ground.

"I do." she whispered lightly. She slid one arm around his shoulders, in a sign of simple camaraderie.

For the first time he looked at her. "Thank you," he whispered back, and then louder, "what a pair we make, staggering up to the castle together, arm in arm and last from the field. People will think we're depressed because of our defeat and not just merely enjoying each other's company and the out doors." With a grin at Stephanie, "race to the castle?"

"You bet," she said with a sly smile. Before Scorpius could blink, or had a chance to move, Stephanie swung her leg around and knocked his out from under him, and she was away, sprinting the last distance to the castle.

"The cheater," muttered Scorpius under his breath, as he leaped up and sprinted after her. He had the longer legs, and so covered more ground faster, but he was unable to fully close the distance between them, and she won by a mere two strides. Laughing, the two of them burst into the entrance hall and, supporting one another, they made their way into the great hall for dinner.

***

The hour was late and the Ravenclaw common room was deserted, save for one boy who lay sprawled across a couch gazing into the fire. It was Albus. He sighed, rolled over and folded his arms beneath his head. He hadn't really cared about the quidditch victory; after all, it was just another one to add to his remarkable quantity of them. His little brawl with Scorpius he barely even remembered, for he cared not for such squabbles.

Life was boring for the Ravenclaw champion. In recent years he had lost all desire to work, for he found no motivation. For where would one find motivation to work when you were already top of the school? And he was not just thinking about quidditch, but also about spell casting and school work, for Albus was the top of the school in all of them. He didn't even need to try, for he had all the talent behind him, and didn't need to work for excellence.

He had had a lot of expectations on him when he began at Hogwarts, with such a reputation to live up to as Harry Potter's, savior of the wizarding world. But he had thrived under the pressure and had immediately passed all expectations and had earned himself the title 'Prodigy of the Century'.

Albus wanted to _do_ something. He hated just going to Hogwarts year after year. It was the same routine every year of school. He would come to school, excel at all his classes, lead his quidditch team to many victories, and then he would go home for the summer. Not that being home in the summer was ever any fun; his dad was always away on diplomatic trips to other countries, and his mom was always busy, seeing as she was the top ranking auror.

Albus had very few friends, not for lack of popularity, for he was the single most popular kid at Hogwarts, but it was this popularity that made him friendless. There was never any lack of people wanting to be around him, but that was all because he was so famous. It was this fame that shut him off from real friendships with people. There was always Rose, but she was his cousin, and her nose was always in her books. There was also his older brother, but he had gone away to Romania to work with Uncle Charlie on dragons. Then there was Lily. Well, Lily was two years younger than him, and also in a different house, and she had her own crowd of admirers, though they were mostly boys. Unlike Albus' mixed crowd.

Albus was alone in the world, and he hated it. He wished that he wasn't so special. If he was less talented he would at least have something to work towards, and he might even have friends. But no, it was his curse to bear all the talent, his yoke of burden, and he was sick of it. He wanted out. He couldn't bear Hogwarts any longer. Albus set his brilliant mind to work, planning.


	3. Albus Leaves Hogwarts

Chapter 2: Albus Leaves Hogwarts

A week later, Scorpius lay tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep. The clock on his bedside table struck one in the morning. He sighed and rolled out of bed. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt; he grabbed his wand from the bedside table and stuck it in the pocket of his jeans.

The only light in the room was silvery-blue moonlight that came in through the only window and cast a pool on the floor by Scorpius' bed.

As Scorpius pulled on his sneakers, a snore erupted from Edward Macmillan in the bed next to him. Scorpius paused briefly before sliding his sneakers on the rest of the way, and creeping out the door with as little noise as he could make.

The common room was deserted and only a pale glow emanated from the fireplace. Scorpius strode across the room and out of the portrait hole. He wandered aimlessly through the dark castle, up and down corridors, just thinking about life.

Scorpius' feet finally brought him to the entrance hall, where he paused. He still wasn't tired, and didn't want to return to the dormitories. While he stood in the middle of the hall, trying to decide what to do, the doors leading to the grounds swung slowly open.

A figure stood framed in the doorway. The bright moon was right behind his head, so he was cloaked in darkness and Scorpius couldn't recognize him. The figure took a step forwards into the hall, and Scorpius was able to see who it was. It was Albus Potter, and he didn't look like he was in a good mood.

Albus looked as surprised as Scorpius felt when he caught sight of him, standing in the center of the entrance hall.

They stood there, merely gaping at each other for a minute, and then a grin split across Albus' features. "It's perfect," Albus whispered to himself and Scorpius barely caught the words.

"What's perfect?" Asked Scorpius, confused.

"For once in my life I might actually be thankful for your miserable existence, Malfoy."

Before Scorpius could ask him what he meant, Albus was shooting across the floor at an alarming speed, and had launched himself onto Scorpius. Scorpius hit the ground hard with Albus on top of him. The breath was knocked out of him and Albus punched him hard in the stomach multiple times.

Trying desperately to get the chance to breathe, Scorpius brought his fist up in a right hook that caught Albus in the side of the head. Albus was thrown from Scorpius and skidded a few yards across the ground.

Gasping for breath Scorpius managed to pull himself onto one arm and gasp out, "You… _git_, Potter! What the hell was that for?"

"You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Malfoy." Albus was already on his feet and rushing Scorpius again. Scorpius barely managed to roll away, missing a kick aimed at his stomach.

Scorpius leapt to his feet only to be knocked backwards as Albus barged into him. Scorpius' head slammed into the wall and stars exploded in front of his eyes as he collapsed to his knees. "Enough!" Scorpius gasped out, "What do you want with me?"

"I just need to use you for a bit Malfoy." Said Albus smugly. "Now get to your feet!" Albus now had his wand out, pointing at Malfoy's chest.

Scorpius pulled himself to his feet and clutched his head with his hand. His head wasn't bleeding, but it felt like it was going to explode.

Albus motioned with his wand that he wanted Scorpius to move. Wondering what in the world Albus was doing, Scorpius followed where he beckoned. He didn't notice where they were going in particular, just that they were climbing upwards.

At last they came to a halt, and Scorpius recognized the gargoyle in front of them as the entrance to the headmaster's office. He had never actually been in the headmaster's office, but everyone knew where it was.

"Professor Flitwick?" Albus spoke quietly. "I know you can hear me, open up." The gargoyle slid aside to reveal the staircase. Albus motioned Scorpius forward. Scorpius went up the stairs and entered the most crowded office he had ever seen.

The only furniture in the room was a large desk, three chairs, a few low tables, a set of cabinets, and a large bookshelf that ran the length of one wall. Books and papers and miscellaneous objects littered every inch of space, including two of the chairs and most of the floor.

The walls were covered in portraits of previous headmasters and headmistresses. On a peg occupying one part of the wall hung the sorting hat, and on the desk, in its glass case, was the sword of Gryffindor.

Occupying the third and largest chair, which stood directly behind the huge desk, sat the headmaster, professor Flitwick. Nobody knew exactly how old he was, but they all knew that he was OLD. He stood at about three and a half feet, and had a white beard that went to his toes and white hair that reached his ankles.

He did not seem at all surprised, or disturbed, that two ruffled looking teenagers had shown up at his door at two in the morning. Or that one happened to be holding his wand pointing at the other in a threatening manner.

"Why good evening Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy. Or should I say good night?" The headmaster looked completely at ease.

"Don't screw around with me, Professor. You know there is only one reason I would be here at this time of night. You refused to listen to me before, but now you must, or I will kill Malfoy."

"WHAT?! Potter don't be a stupid prat!" yelled Scorpius.

"Shuttup Malfoy, if you want your life!" retorted Albus.

"You are no killer Albus." Flitwick spoke in a low voice.

"You want to bet? I'm sick of this life, and I will do anything to get out of this bloody school. When I came to you almost a whole week ago you could have just let me out peaceably, but no, you had to force my hand to this act. Ever since you refused to let me leave the school, I've been working during the nights to try and find a way past the enchantments on the front gate.

"I've been unsuccessful so far, but as I returned tonight, I found Malfoy here, and formed this plan on the spot, as it was the only way I could think of that you might finally listen to me and take me seriously."

"There are other ways we can work this out, Albus," said Flitwick, still apparently at complete ease.

"No! You listen, old man. You are going to come down right now and let me out the front gate. I will only keep Malfoy as long as it takes to make sure I'm safe from anyone coming after me."

"How far do you think you'll get Albus, before your parents catch up with you and bring you back?"

"They don't have the time to come after me. My dad is in Denmark and my mom is busier than ever with her auror work. Not to mention, I don't plan to make it easy for anyone to come after me. Now get a move on down to the gates!"

"Are you sure about this Albus?"

"Yes! Now MOVE!"

As Flitwick rose from his chair he completely vanished behind the large desk, but reappeared in a second. "If you would lead the way professor, then Malfoy can follow, and I'll come right behind him," said Albus.

The small procession moved through the silent corridors and past the sleeping portraits in their frames. Eventually they winded their way down and out into the moonlight.

It was a bright and still night. The not-quite-full moon shone down and illuminated the grounds. There was no breeze to toy with the leaves of the forbidden forest.

The three figures trekked forwards in silence, none breaking the silence. Scorpius still felt like his head had a stereo blasting inside it, but he didn't really feel like complaining when Albus was threatening his life.

Finally the trio arrived at the entrance to the grounds. "_Accio!_" hissed Albus. After waiting for a few seconds, a backpack came shooting over the grounds and fell to the dirt at Albus' feet.

"Now professor, get started if you will." Albus looked over at Flitwick. "No quick movements with your wand though."

Flitwick reached into his robes and pulled out his wand. Stepping forward he placed the tip of his wand on the gates and began to mutter incantations under his breath. This was the only sound that broke the silence of the night. After a few moments the gates swung open.

"Thank you professor," Albus said as he turned towards Scorpius. "You'll have to come with me just until I'm safely away. If you cause any trouble, you will experience real pain. Here." Albus rummaged through the backpack until he came up with two miniature brooms. Pulling them out, he enlarged them, and threw one to Scorpius who caught it deftly.

"It's a Sonic 2, the latest and fastest model. Don't bother trying to escape with it—it's magically bound to my broom, and can't fly further than twenty feet away.

"Before we go, I'm going to have to ask you to give me your wand, Malfoy." Without objecting, Scorpius pulled his wand from his pocket and handed it over. He wasn't stupid enough to think he would be able to draw his wand and hex Albus faster than Albus hex him when Albus had his wand already pointing right at him.

The two teenagers mounted their brooms and shot off into the night, leaving Flitwick looking after them with a solemn expression on his face. For the past week Albus had been requesting to be let out of the grounds, but Flitwick had continued to refuse on the basis that students weren't allowed to leave without permission from their parents.

He thought he had been doing the right thing, and hadn't bothered to talk to Albus' parents. Now it seemed that he had pushed Albus into the dark deed of threatening the life of another student. He hadn't thought Albus was so far lost from the light and joy that living life gave to people,

An innocent student was now in a dangerous situation, and Flitwick was mostly to blame. He didn't think Albus would go so far as to commit murder, but he also hadn't thought Albus would go as far as he had already gone.

He didn't know much about Scorpius Malfoy, but he had a small hope, a very small hope, that maybe Scorpius would be good for Albus, and make him see the light and come back.

***

Albus and Scorpius shot out of the sky and landed in front of the International Floo Traveling Network. As they dismounted, Albus muttered a spell under his breath. A silver thread of light extended from his wand and wrapped itself around Scorpius wrist before disappearing.

"What was that?" asked Scorpius glumly.

"Just a spell to make sure you don't try to escape from me in your idiocy. You can't go more than ten feet from me." Any hopes Scorpius had of getting away vanished instantly.

Albus shrunk the brooms and stowed them in his pack, then together they strode through the revolving glass doors into the dull, but rather large, room.

Fireplaces ranged along the length of the three walls that didn't contain the doors. Above each fireplace was the name of a large city somewhere in the world.

In the center of the room was a table, on which sat a huge jar of floo powder. In one corner was a wizard with his feet propped up on a large desk, having an idle conversation with two more wizards across from him.

All three wizards looked up as Scorpius and Albus entered. Albus ignored them and shoved Scorpius ahead of him, grabbing a handful of powder as he passed the center of the room.

The wizard behind the desk cried out, "Hey wait a minute! You got to fill out these forms first before traveling internationally, and if you're underage you need a parent to sign too!"

Albus ignored him and threw the handful of powder into the fireplace labeled 'Chicago.' He pushed Scorpius in and leapt in after him.

The two young wizards came spinning out of the fireplace trailing soot and ashes. Albus drew himself to his feet, brushed off his robes and looked around. They were in an identical room to the one they had just left. This room was more crowded, however, with around a dozen people milling around, and there was morning light pouring in through the glass doors.

_Of course,_ thought Albus, _the time difference, I'd forgotten._ Albus pulled Scorpius to his feet and drew the blond wizard after him as he walked over to the desk. This time it was a middle-aged witch who sat behind it.

"I beg your pardon, but would you mind pointing me and my friend in the right direction for the nearest motel?" Asked Albus politely.

The woman replied in a bored voice, "What standards are you looking for in this hotel?"

"Anything, as long as it's as cheap as you can get and on the low-down."

"You're in luck. There's one fitting that description only a few blocks from here. As you leave, take a left, then the second right, followed by another left, and then go four blocks and it's on your right. It's called _Jane & Isaac's._ "

"Thank you." Albus turned and dragged Scorpius outside after him.

Albus and Scorpius struggled through the crowded Chicago streets until they finally arrived outside the motel.

It was a stone building, five stories high and barely thirty feet wide. Neon lights with dysfunctional letters spelled out the motel's name on the building's side. There were two windows that could be seen on the side of the building, one was boarded up, and the other was filled in with cement. Streaks of blackness and dirt where obvious here and there on the wall, and cobwebs could be seen running along the doorframe.

Scorpius' jaw dropped. "You're flippin' _kidding_ me right? This place looks like a dump that smucks would spend a few hours at between two and three in the morning. Are we seriously going to _stay_ here?"

"Hm…" Albus gazed up at the building. "Guess she took me quite literally when I said 'anything as long as it's as cheap as you can get.' Well it certainly _looks _like it's on the lowdown. Well, it's where we're staying so don't frown on it too much."

"_What?_ You can't be serious; I'm not going to stay in a slum like this." Scorpius looked at Albus as if he was going insane.

"I don't remember asking you're opinion, Malfoy. In case you've forgotten, you're my prisoner at the moment, and I really couldn't care less what you think about it, you rich spoiled brat."

Scorpius fumed silently as they entered the motel.

Even though it was brilliantly bright outside, it was dark in the lobby of the motel, and only one dim lamp offered any light. A couple of dusty, olive-green couches were thrown up against one wall, occupied by a sprawled-out woman who appeared to be asleep, and a man who was watching TV on a stand across the room.

The man looked up when they entered, rose to his feet, and crossed to the front desk. He looked like he was around thirty years old. He was big and solid looking, with black slicked-back hair, a couple days of stubble on his face, and a lot of piercings. A heavy silver chain was slung around his neck. He looked like the type of guy you would meet in a dark alley.

"Hello there gentlemen. I am Joe, the co-owner of this lovely paradise."

Scorpius, who had been looking around the room while sucking on a mint he had found sitting in a dish on the desk, started to choke and cough. Albus merely raised his eyebrows.

"I thought this was Jane and Isaac's? Where are they?" Asked Albus.

"Jane and Isaac were my parents. This motel is now run by me and my sister Isabella." With a wave of his hand he indicated the young woman asleep on the sofa.

"So why don't you change the name to _Isabella & Joe's_?"

Joe shrugged. "The current name has a better ring to it. Anyways, how can I help you boys?"

"I'd like to have a room with two twin beds."

"How long will you be staying?"

"Not sure yet. Most likely for a good while, though. I would like to pay on a weekly basis if I may."

"Sure thing, Mr.—?"

"Just call me Albus. Is there anything I need to know about?"

"We don't serve any meals, and you can do whatever the hell you want in your room as long as you pay rent. That's all."

"Thanks. So how much would that be per week?"

"We'll cut you a deal of a mere five galleons."

"Sure, here's for the first two weeks." Albus reached into his bag and dropped a small pile of galleons onto the desk.

"Here's your room key." Joe slid a slid a key across the desk that was labeled '7'. "Our policy is not to require any information on our guests, so as long as they pay. You're completely able to do whatever, as far as we're concerned."

"Thank you, Joe." Albus pocketed the key and strode off in the direction of a staircase Scorpius had failed to notice across the room.

They walked up to the first floor, and strode along till they came to room number seven. Upon entering, Scorpius saw one of the smallest, most crammed motel rooms he had ever seen.

The room was twenty feet across, and had two twin beds crammed in with one wardrobe, a desk and a small TV. A ceiling fan whirred quietly, and didn't do much to prevent the stuffy heat. The room also contained a bathroom with a toilet and shower.

"I'm never going to be able to complain about staying at the Radisson ever again after this piece of crap…" Scorpius was looking around him with disdain.

"Like I said, spoiled rich brat. I'm used to Days Inn at best, so I don't really mind. Perhaps you should lower your standards." Albus was looking at Scorpius with annoyance.

"Okay I'm going to take a nap, seeing as we're on English time and it's like four in the morning there. If you disturb me in any way, you'll regret it Malfoy. And I'll tell you right now, don't bother trying to escape, it won't work, and it'll be painful for you."

With that, Albus threw himself down on one of the twin beds and rolled over and faced the wall.

Grumbling at his lot in life, Scorpius threw himself on the other bed and gazed up at the ceiling, wondering how the heck he was going to get out of this.


	4. Mrs Potter

Author's Note:

I would just like to strongly urge any of you who like the story at all to leave a review. I would like feedback on the plot and what you think about it. Thank you!

Chapter 3: Mrs. Potter

Ginevra Potter sat in her office, leaning back in her comfortable chair with her feet propped up on her desk. Her hands were behind her head as she gazed up at the blank white ceiling above her.

She had been really busy lately, but she was taking a moment to just sit back, relax, and think over the situation.

Harry had just left for Denmark three days ago. No word had been heard from him since then, but she wasn't that worried. She knew it often took several days to get in to see a king, and he would hardly send word before there was any to send.

The prince of Denmark was missing and the Danes were blaming England for his disappearance, though nobody in England knew what was going on at all.

On top of that, ancient magical history texts were being stolen from multiple locations. Nobody knew who was behind the thefts, but it was a sizeable group to be pulling off these kinds of robberies.

The first site had been a library in London, the second had been the Zabini Manor, and the last one, which had occurred only two days ago, had been the Ministry of Magic itself. These people were efficient, and knew what they wanted; they were in and out in no time at all, leaving everything undisturbed—with the exception of the books that were missing.

The door to her office crashed open with a bang, and Ginny jumped to her feet with a start. The headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick, stood in the doorway.

"Hello Mrs. Potter, sorry for intruding so suddenly, but I have some urgent news for you." His eyes were solemn.

"No not at all, Flitwick. What's the matter?"

"It's about your son, Albus."

"What about him? Is he in trouble at school? Has he been getting into fights?" The concern was evident in her voice.

Flitwick took a deep breath, then launched into the tale of all that had happened the last week.

Ginny's face started to pale, and then her face went completely ashen.

"But—but I just don't understand. I thought Albus was happy at Hogwarts. I don't know what would drive him to this. It just doesn't make sense. And to go so far as to threaten another student's life. . . ." She fell into silence, then spoke up again, "And at a time like this, I'm already overloaded, and on top of that Harry's gone . . . I don't know what to do."

"I know, I was shocked as well. And I feel so terrible— I am at least somewhat responsible for Albus falling to the measures he did, and I am sincerely sorry."

Ginny was already under a boatload of stress as it was. She couldn't hold it in and she burst into tears. She sat down and put her head in her hands.

Flitwick hesitated, and then started to move towards her, but she spoke.

"Please Flitwick, I appreciate you coming and telling me yourself, but I would like to be left alone for a bit."

Flitwick hesitated once more, and then said, "Of course. If there is anything I can do, please tell me." He turned and strode out of the office, swinging the door closed quietly behind him as he left.

Ginny spun her desk chair around so that it faced the window. She looked out over London and wondered what had possibly happened to Albus to make him do such a thing.

Then her thoughts turned to what she should try and do about it.

She was fully loaded with the case of the stolen magical texts, and she knew there was absolutely no way she could get the ministry to give her time off to go look for Albus, even though it was a family emergency.

Harry was in Denmark, so he couldn't go look for Albus, and her oldest son, James, was in Romania, and it would take too long to get him over to England.

Her thoughts roved to Ron, but his job at the ministry was keeping him on his toes as it was.

Finally, Ginny's thoughts turned to Hermione. Yes, she was the perfect one to help out: she knew and loved Albus dearly, and would be more than willing to go after him. Hermione was a writer—one who spent three months of the year experiencing other wizarding cultures and researching their history, and then nine months at home, intensively writing her book.

Luckily for Ginny, Hermione had gotten home from her three months of travel just before the summer, and she would be able to take some time off her writing to go look for Albus.

Leaping out of her chair, Ginny grabbed a pinch of floo powder out of a jar on her desk, and threw it into the fireplace. Shoving her head into the flames she yelled out Hermione and Ron's address.

She looked out at a nicely furnished room with Persian rugs on the floor, and souvenirs of Hermione's travels lining the walls. On a couch in the center of the room, facing the fireplace, sat Hermione. She lay with her legs curled under her, a piece of parchment in her lap, and a quill in her hand. At the moment she was sucking on the end of her quill thoughtfully.

"Hermione?" Hermione jumped at the sound of Ginny's voice, the parchment fell out of her lap and onto the floor.

"Oh, Ginny, it's you. You frightened me." Hermione reached down and scooped the parchment off the floor.

"Sorry about that. Look, I have something I need to talk to you about." She told Hermione all that Flitwick had told her. "So I was wondering if you could go look for him. With Harry gone, and I'm completely loaded at work, and I know Ron is too…"

Hermione's face was full of concern at this point. "Of course Ginny! There's no way I wouldn't do this for you." They both fell into silence for a few moments. Ginny looked at the floor, while Hermione looked at Ginny's face with concern.

"Are you okay Ginny? You know this isn't your fault," said Hermione.

"But isn't it?" Asked Ginny quietly, still looking at the floor. "I was the one who raised him. I'm responsible for him."

"Sometimes things just happen, and there's nothing anyone can do. Who knows what is going through Albus' head right now—or what's going through his heart. Something could have happened at school, something could have hurt him real bad, there's no way of knowing."

Ginny sighed. "I know, but I still feel like I wasn't there for him when he needed someone."

"Do you need someone to be with you Ginny? Do you want me to come over there?"

"No thanks Hermione, I think I just need some time to be alone."

"Okay then. . . ." Hermione looked really worried now. "I'll get ready and go right away."

"Thanks a lot, Hermione."

"Anything for you, Ginny."

Ginny pulled her head back out of the fireplace and collapsed into her chair. She gritted her teeth as she threatened to fall apart. She couldn't, not at a time like this; she needed to focus on her work. Pulling herself together she drew a stack of papers towards her.

***

Hermione rose to her feet, and placed the parchment and quill on the small coffee table in front of the couch. She went up to her room and threw some muggle clothes into a bag and changed as fast as she could.

Rushing down into the kitchen she wrote a hasty note explaining to Ron what was going on. Leaving the note on the table she ran out the door. Out on the lawn she hesitated. She wanted someone to help in her search, but she didn't know who to go to.

Her mind ran through options. The only person she could think of who wasn't completely loaded with something right now was Bill Weasley, her brother-in-law.

Spinning on the spot, Hermione disapparated with a bang.

***

Bill started, and jumped with a yelp, when his sister-in-law appeared between him and the TV. "Hermione?! What are you doing here?"

Hermione turned and looked at the TV where _Jaws_ was playing, screams emanated from the mechanical box, and blood and body parts spewed across the screen. "You're watching muggle TV?"

Bill looked sheepish. "Yeah, it's a good way to pass the time when you have nothing else to do."

"Where's Fleur?"

"She's out shopping, why?"

Hermione quickly explained everything to Bill. An expression of complete shock covered his features. "I was wondering if you could come with me and try to find him and bring him back."

"Of course, I could hardly turn family down when I'm on holiday anyway. Wait here." Bill stood up and turned to run to his room. He was a big guy, not too tall, but rather stocky. He had long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and an earring glimmered in one ear, just like the days when Hermione had been a young student attending Hogwarts. His face was badly scarred from the time he had fought Fenrir Greyback, brutal traces of the battle ran up and down and sideways across his big face, making him unrecognizable to people who had only known him before the traumatic experience. A large beard grew on his chin.

Through the open door Hermione could see clothes flying left and right as Bill tried to pack in a short amount of time.

Hermione looked back at the TV just in time to see a shark pop out of nowhere and swallow a man whole. She raised her eyebrows.

"Lovely movie you're watching in here, Bill." She said with a grin to herself.

His voice drifted in from the other room. "I was especially bored, and hey, that's a good movie, even if it is really gory." Hermione laughed.

Hermione heard a door slam somewhere in the house. A sweet voice with a slight French accent flowed through the house like a stream bubbling down a brook. "Bill, darling, I'm home!"

Fleur came prancing through the door to the front hall. In her arms she carried a couple of bags. A bright smile covered her face, but when she saw Hermione she halted.

"Oh, Hermione, what are you doing here?"

"I was—" Hermione started to explain, but halted when Bill entered the room with a backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Fleur, you're here. Great, that makes this so much easier." Bill closed the distance between them, relieved her of her bags, and drew her into his arms. He explained to her quietly as they gazed into each other's eyes.

Hermione occupied herself with watching the TV, attempting to give them a little privacy.

When Bill's voice stopped, she glanced up, thinking that he was finished. When she saw that the two of them were sharing a kiss, she hastily looked down, her cheeks flushing a little.

She began to wish she had had a chance to say goodbye to Ron, but the situation had forced her to leave before he came home.

Bill's voice cut across her reverie. "Hermione, let's go," he said gruffly. Giving Fleur a brief hug, Hermione raced into the hall after Bill, and out onto the front steps.

"Where do we start?" Asked Bill, turning to face Hermione.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "Let's try the International Floo Network. I'm not sure, but I think Albus might have headed for America."

"What?! Where did you come up with that idea? That's so random."

"It's not, actually. Ever since he was young, Albus has expressed the desire to get out of England, to go see some other countries, and America was always first on his list. He always talked about wanting to go there."

Bill shrugged, "Well, we have no other clues. Let's check it out." Bill and Hermione disapparated without another word.

They appeared in London, in front of the glass doors of the International Floo Network. The street was a typical crowded London street. They pushed forwards together and into the building.

The place was semi-crowded with people coming and going from fireplaces all over the world. They pushed their way over to the desk where a tall wizard with silky blonde hair was having a discussion with the wizard behind the desk.

"Malfoy?" Asked Hermione in surprise.

The blonde wizard looked up. "Granger, it's been awhile," he said with the ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

"Yeah, how are you? Is work going well?"

Malfoy frowned at this. "It's on both work and family business that I'm here, actually. And no, I'm not doing amazingly well, since I found out this morning that your nephew has kidnapped my son and broken the law by leaving through the floo network without the permission of a guardian."

"So he did leave the country, as I thought…"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, nothing. I was talking to myself, but did I hear you right? You're here on family _and_ work business?"

"Yes, as you know I'm an Auror, and it just so happened that I got assigned to hunt down Albus and Scorpius for breaking the law. I was just getting information from this helpful gentleman here." He nodded at the wizard behind the desk. "It appears they came through late last night and leapt into the floo channel leading to Chicago."

Bill leaned over and whispered in Hermione's ear. "It appears you were right." Despite the circumstances, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"Thank you for that information. I think we should be running along now. We don't want to lose any time in looking for them."

They turned and started to make for the Chicago fireplace when Malfoy called out, "Wait!" They stopped and turned. "Since we both wish to find our children, maybe we should work together. What do you think?"

Hermione was surprised. "Yeah sure, I guess, why not?"

"Excellent," Malfoy replied with a smile.

The three of them grabbed some floo powder, and one by one stepped into the fireplace for Chicago.

It was dark as they immerged from the fireplace. The cold tiled marble room was deserted except for a young woman who sat behind a desk in the corner. It was dusk outside, the sun having just gone down.

As they strode out into the street, they were deafened by the sound of gunfire.

On their left, cops were ducking behind two police cars stopped in the middle of the road. On their right, a gang of what looked like mobsters were using dumpsters and light-posts for cover.

They were caught in the middle of a gunfight.

Bill threw himself in front of Hermione, then scooped her up in his large arms and sprinted towards the nearest police car and dove behind it.

Malfoy went for his wand but then a mobster caught sight of him. He fired off a shot that hit Malfoy in the arm. His wand flew from his hand as his arm fell limp at his side, blood was spreading out from the where the bullet had entered.

The mobster who had shot him jumped from behind the large dumpster he had been using for cover, rushed over, and tackled Malfoy to the ground. Pushing the point of his gun into Malfoy's temple he yelled out, "Stop firing or I blow his head off!"

Immediately all gunfire ceased. Hermione risked a glance around the side of the car, and saw Malfoy wincing in pain as he cradled his injured arm.

The mobster resumed speaking, "You're going to let us leave now. If anyone comes after us, we'll kill this man. After we are safely away, I'll let him go unharmed."

The police didn't reply. The mobsters all got up from their respective hiding spots and, leaping into two Toyota's that stood nearby, whipped around the corner, taking Malfoy with them.

Right before they disappeared, Hermione pulled her wand out in a flash, and, pointing at the Toyota Malfoy had been shoved into, hissed a charm. Then she hastily hid her wand again, before any of the Muggles had seen it.

One of the cops ran over to them. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, we're unharmed officer," replied Bill as he helped Hermione to her feet.

The worry on the cop's face decreased a bit. "Do you know who that blonde man was?"

"Why ye-" Before Bill had a chance to finish, Hermione stomped down on his foot and interrupted.

"No officer, I've never seen him before," Hermione lied, knowing that she and Bill could save Malfoy a lot faster without having to go to the Muggle police station and wasting a lot of time there.

"Well if you're unharmed, and you don't know who that gentleman was, then I guess you're free to go," said the cop, looking a little confused.

As the cops jumped in their cars and rushed away, Bill looked at Hermione questioningly. "I put a tracing charm on the back of one of the cars. If we told the cops we knew Malfoy, they just would have taken us to their station and we would have to waste a lot of time. This way we can rescue him in a minimal amount of time."

"Ah, you really are a smart piece of work," Bill complimented Hermione.

Hermione strode over and picked Malfoy's wand off the street. "We're going to need a car."

Bill grinned, "As long as I get to drive."

"Sure, if you want," Hermione replied dismissively.

Hermione gazed up at the sky. She could tell already that finding her nephew was going to be an adventure. They had barely gotten here and already they had been thrown into the middle of a gunfight and someone had gotten kidnapped.

Hermione muttered to herself, "Welcome to America."


	5. The Fight Club

Author's Note:

I am so sorry that it took me two weeks to get this chapter up. I generally will try and post a chapter a week. I was unable to post one last week due to the fact that I was traveling and unable to access a computer. Keep reading, and please review!

~ThaniMag

Chapter 4: The Fight Club

Scorpius swam through the murky depths of sleep and finally awoke. The reddish-orange light of late afternoon was slanting through the blinds that covered the single window in the room.

He looked over at the other bed and jolted fully awake when he noticed it was empty.

He leapt from the bed and tore out of the room and down the hall, heading for a door at the end of the hall which was a back way out of the hotel.

He heard the pounding of pursuit behind him as someone chased after him down the hall. Just as he reached the door leading out of the building, he was hit from behind with a hex. His body instantly locked up, but the momentum of his sprint sent him flying through the door and crashing to the ground in a small back alley.

Since his body was frozen up, he couldn't move, and all he could see was a small stretch of sky spanning the small distance between the tall buildings on either side of the street.

A head full of shaggy black hair and two piercing green eyes swam into his vision.

Albus sighed. "Scorpius you stupid prat, I told you not to try and escape. I really thought you were a bit brighter than this. I stand corrected."

Scorpius glared up at Albus from his undignified position on the ground.

With a flick of his wand Albus released Scorpius from the spell. Scorpius pushed himself to his feet, brushing some alley filth off of his clothes in the process.

"Did you really think I would leave you alone in the room without taking precautions?" Albus' eyes flashed with bitter amusement. "Sure I took off the binding charm, but I put a new charm on the door that would tell me if you opened it.

"Now I'm just going to put the old charm back on." Albus tapped Scorpius on the wrist with his wand, and the silvery rope of light wound around his forearm and disappeared like before.

"You can't blame me for trying, Potter," Scorpius said defensively.

"I'm not in the mood to make you feel pain, but don't try again. It's useless. Besides, I'll let you go eventually anyway. Don't be an uncooperative prat."

"Don't call me a prat."

"Stupid prat," Albus said, as if asking Scorpius what he could do about it.

Scorpius merely glared at Albus' back as he followed him back into the motel.

Albus led Scorpius back to the lobby. Joe was nowhere in sight, but the young woman who had previously been sleeping stood behind the desk.

"Sorry about that Isabella," began Albus, leaning one elbow on the top of the desk, "there was a brief . . . disturbance." Albus shot Scorpius a side-long glance.

"No problem at all," Isabella flashed Albus a large smile. Scorpius guessed she was at about twenty years of age. She had deep hazel eyes and short, cute, brown hair.

"Now, if you could point us in the direction of a cheap place to eat? I haven't eaten in ages, and I'm simply starving." He gave her a smile.

Smiling back she said, "There's a muggle restaurant called McDonald's. It's cheap, decent, and right down the road."

"Sounds great, but I don't have any American muggle money. Do you think you could trade me some dollars for galleons?"

She grinned once more, overeager to please Albus. "Why of course I can."

Albus exchanged some money with her and then set out, with Scorpius following along seeing as he had no other choice.

By now night had fallen, but they had no trouble finding McDonald's. They ordered a couple of meals and grabbed a booth. Scorpius and Albus sat facing each other across the table.

"Dang, this stuff is _delicious_!" Exclaimed Scorpius, taking a large bite of his burger, then washing it down with a couple fries and a swig of coke. "How come we don't have McDonald's in England?"

"They probably do, you just haven't eaten at many muggle restaurants or fast food branches. Being the rich brat you are, you probably stick to the rich, gourmet wizard restaurants."

Scorpius looked thoughtful. "True, I should get out more." Albus raised his eyebrows at Scorpius but didn't say anything.

Scorpius paused with a French fry halfway to his mouth. "Why are you running away, Potter? What do you plan to do?"

Albus gazed steadily at Scorpius, and Scorpius gazed steadily back.

Albus spoke slowly and quietly. "I left because I was sick of that life. I want to _live_ my life, not spend it in a school, or behind an office desk, or playing a stupid sport."

"I thought you loved Quidditch?"

"Oh I do, but it's pointless to life."

"'Pointless to life?'" Scorpius echoed Albus' words, "how do you figure that? The important things in life are doing what you love, doing what gets you out of bed in the morning. Also, small experiences that you enjoy, like this," he gestured at the food, "enjoying a meal you like. Those are the things that make life worth living."

Albus just stared at him. "Are you _mental?_ Eating _food_ is what makes life worth living? Quidditch, a simple game?"

"That's what I believe, and it's what makes going on worth it for me."

Albus snorted. "You've gone mental. Oh wait, you've always been mental. You were mental from the day your ugly face came out of your mother."

"_What_ would _you_ say makes life worth living?"

"I don't know, but I know it sure as heck isn't sitting at Hogwarts doing _NOTHING_. I've come here to try and find something that _does_ make life worth living, if there even is such a thing."

It was Scorpius turn to simply stare at Albus. Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, but Albus cut him off. "We are _FINISHED_ with this conversation, understood?" Scorpius nodded silently and resumed eating his food.

The two teenagers finished off their meal in silence. Once finished they rose to their feet, and Albus lead the way out of the restaurant. It was fully dark outside now, and it had started to rain. "Where to now?" Scorpius asked looking over at Albus.

"A fight club. Follow me." Albus plunged into the darkness. Scorpius stood staring after him, his jaw hanging open in surprise, before plunging into the darkness to catch up to him.

They went down many winding streets and through countless dark alleys. Scorpius was hopelessly lost, but he continued to follow Albus faithfully. Finally Albus stopped abruptly in the middle of an abandoned alley. It was so sudden that Scorpius ran into him.

"Watch it!" hissed Albus.

"Sorry," muttered Scorpius in response.

They stood without speaking for a few minutes, Albus looking around, and Scorpius ruing how cold he was. The rain silently ran in rivers off their soaked bodies.

Finally Albus turned abruptly to his left and tapped on the alley wall and hissed something. A wooden door materialized where stone alley wall had been but a moment before. A sign on the door read: 'Admittance By Invitation Only'.

A peep hole in the door slid back to reveal a pair of blue eyes. Albus stepped forwards and muttered something Scorpius couldn't hear the person behind the door. The peep hole immediately shut and then the door swung inward to reveal a rather obese man with long blonde dreadlocks and a blonde beard.

He motioned them in. Once they stepped in he shut the door behind them and beckoned for them to follow him. They were in a narrow dark hall. They followed behind the large man until they were in a large, crowded, noisy room.

The room was as dark as the hall; the only light came from large lava lamps placed sporadically across the room. It was hazy from smoke and the lava lamps created neon shades of pink and purple.

Three sides of the room were tiered, rather like an amphitheater. There was a bar along the wall to their left, and a stage on which some young women were dancing obscenely in a rather small amount of clothing. Against the wall to their right a band was playing.

Booths and tables were spread throughout. Directly in front of them, at the bottom of the room, was a large square platform on which two people were locked in a duel. There was a glass pole at each corner of the platform which created an invisible shield, blocking any spell that missed its target, and keeping bystanders safe from potential injury.

The big blonde man led them across the room to the bar and had a quick discussion with the bartender, who was as skinny as a pole and had long black dreadlocks.

The bartender looked over the blonde man's large shoulder at the two teens. Albus was looking rather solemn, and Scorpius was looking around with keen interest.

The bartender then waved away the blonde man and indicated that Albus and Scorpius should come closer. Albus looked wary as he stepped towards the man, and the bartender laughed, though it was barely audible in the loud, crowded room. "I'm not going to hurt you kid."

Albus had to speak loudly to be heard. "Don't call me a kid."

The bartender raised his eyebrows, and looked amused. "So what are you doing here?" He asked the question as if he already knew the answer.

"I want to fight." Albus sounded determined.

The bartender didn't look surprised in the least. "Don't you think you're a little on the young side? Some of these guys have three times your age and experience."

"Just put me in the ring and I'll show you my skills with a wand are far beyond my age. I can take any of these goons." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the stage where the fighting was going on.

"I tell you what, I like the look of you so I'll put you in the next round. It happens to be a free sign-up. _If_ you survive, then I'll let you try your hand at a one-on-one standard fight. Just so you know, there is no guarantee you _will_ survive. The rules are that anything goes. The round ends when your opponent either can't continue, forfeits, or jumps off the stage. If you knock your opponent off the stage, it's as if they couldn't continue to compete. Meaning, they lose the fight, but they can still fight again later. But if you do choose to jump off the stage or forfeit, you are not allowed to participate in this fight club again, understood?"

Albus nodded without a word. "You still want to participate?" Again the wordless nod. "If anything happens to you, you accept full responsibility. As I said, the next round is a free sign-up, so you'll be in the ring with however many people get the whim to fight. So it'll be kind of chaotic and you could end up getting trampled to death. Would your blonde friend like to enter?" He looked over at Scorpius who shook his head vehemently. The bartender grinned, "A smart one.

"Look, the current round is just ending; make your way down onto the stage."

Albus pulled out his wand and turned to face Scorpius. "I'm going to extend the range of the charm, but you still won't be able to get away. Don't bother trying, just get a drink, find a seat, and enjoy the fight. Okay?"

Albus left and fought his way across to the stage, while Scorpius found a seat at the bar and ordered a simple butterbeer. As he sat down, a middle-aged woman in the next seat gave him a sly smile and slid her hand onto his thigh. "Hey there handsome."

Scorpius choked on his butterbeer. He leapt up, knocking her hand aside. "You creep, get away from me!"

The woman scowled and turned the other way as Scorpius wandered off, found an empty table, and settled in to watch Albus' fight.

Albus was one of a dozen wizards standing on the stage, wands held tightly in hand. Scorpius had to give Albus some credit, he didn't look nervous at all, despite the fact that he could very well lose his life in this fight.

Albus was the youngest of all the people on stage. Everyone else looked somewhere between twenty-five and thirty-five, except one man who's hair glimmered with gray strands.

A proctor stood near the stage and yelled "begin!" into his amplified wand. Immediately the whole stage was engulfed in smoke. There were flashes of light, bangs, and yells of pain, but nobody could see anything.

After a couple minutes the smoke began to clear, and Scorpius found himself anxiously looking for Albus. The smoke faded, and in the middle of the stage stood the man with the gray hairs, a small smile on his face.

The stage was littered with prone and motionless bodies.. The only figure still standing was the man with the gray hairs. Horror gripped Scorpius before he realized that counting the gray-haired man there were only eleven bodies on stage. Where was Albus?

There was a shimmering of air behind the gray-haired man. Albus materialized out of thin air, with a grin of triumph on his face. He was in mid air and flying at the man's back, his leg held straight out in front of him.

His foot connected with the man and sent him flying forwards and off the stage, face planting on the ground with a smack.

Albus stood in the middle of the stage, grinning with triumph. Scorpius leapt up and let out a whoop, unable to stop himself despite the fact that he was being dragged all over Chicago as a prisoner because of him.

Scorpius looked back at the bartender whose jaw was hanging half-open in disbelief. The crowd looked quite impressed.

Albus leapt off the stage and worked his way up to the bar. Scorpius left his seat and worked his way in that direction as well. When he finally got there, Albus was talking to the bartender.

"Think I've proven my prowess with a wand?" Albus looked rather self-satisfied.

The bartender snorted. "Hardly, though I have to admit, I am impressed. That man you beat is named Billy, and he doesn't lose much. I'll start working you into the usual fighting routine. What times of day work for you?"

"Anytime, I've got a lax schedule."

"Okay," The bartender started writing something down on a notepad he pulled out of his pocket. "Seeing as we'll be doing business with each other," he thrust his hand out at Albus, "I'm Grease."

Albus took his hand, "Albus." The bartender didn't question the fact that he only gave a first name. Scorpius assumed it was because most of the people who hung out at this place were probably wanted for a crime, or else trying to run away from something in their past. He figured they didn't need to know last names anyway. People only went there to enjoy themselves, get drunk, and fight, and who needed to know names for doing those things?

"So when's my next fight?" Albus asked Grease.

"Well, Billy was supposed to fight four rounds from now, but you can have his spot since you defeated him. So go take a short rest, and get ready for that fight. This one will be an ordinary one-on-one."

"Right." Albus nodded and turned to find a seat. He looked surprised to find Scorpius right behind him, as if he had forgotten about Scorpius altogether.

Scorpius pounded him on the back, "That was awesome! What happened down there? How did you pull it off?"

Albus looked completely taken aback by Scorpius' reaction to his fight. "Wait, let's grab a seat first." They wandered around the loud, crowded room, till they found an empty booth, and slid in.

Albus ordered a couple of butterbeers for them as he explained the fight to Scorpius. "The man that Grease called Billy threw up a smoke screen as soon as the fight began. Of course there was no way any of us stood a chance against him while the smoke was still there. Since it was his smoke screen he could see through it, but we were all completely blind.

"So I cast a concealment charm, waited till he had taken down the rest of the participants and the smoke had cleared, then bam, he was mine."

Scorpius stared in awe. "Man, I never would have thought of that."

"Lucky for me, the thought didn't even cross Billy's mind that anyone would be that fast at reacting, so he didn't bother doing a body count. If he had, I would have been doomed."

Albus looked around and caught sight of where the obscene dancing was going on. A grin spread across his face. "Ah, nothing like some sensually pleasing entertainment while we wait, _excellent_."

Scorpius looked over and gagged. "You're kidding me, right? That's just disgusting, and immoral."

Albus turned and glared at Scorpius. "Oh shuttup. Don't talk to me about being immoral and crap. I'm enjoying myself. It would be even more pleasing if they were over here doing it on our table." A smile of pleasure spread across his face as he imagined it.

Scorpius scowled, and then belted him in the face. "Don't think about women like that, it's dishonoring them!"

A look of rage and surprise crossed Albus' face as the punch connected. "Why you little brat!" He leapt over the table and onto Scorpius, tackling him out of the booth and onto the floor. Sitting on top of the blonde, Albus pummeled him until he was grabbed from behind by two strong hands and roughly pulled off him.

Grease was a lot stronger than someone would have guessed from his slight build, and Albus wasn't able to break free. Grease looked slightly amused. "Whoa there! Save your energy for your fight. Which, by the way, is on next, ,so you'd better get ready.

"I've taken a liking to you, so I'll give you some advice. Your opponent's skilled, but doesn't have much stamina, so if you play defensively till he starts to tire, you should be able to take him."

Albus nodded, and rubbed his nose which had started to bleed slightly from when Scorpius had first punched him, as he glared at the blonde teenager.

"Oh look, I was right, the fight's already over, get down there!"

As Albus trotted off to his fight, Grease reached out his hand and pulled the bruised Scorpius to his feet. "What was that all about anyway?" Grease asked with interest.

"Albus was getting imaginative with your dancers over there," Scorpius jerked his head in their direction.

Grease glanced over and grimaced. "Oh, those. They disgust me, but I let them stay even though I own the place. They're just too good for business." He turned back to Scorpius, face full of curiosity. "You two don't seem to be that great of friends, why are you with him?"

Scorpius looked at the ground. "I have no choice."

Grease burned with the desire to ask more questions, but said nothing, turning back to his place at the bar.

On stage, Albus stood across from a tall, lanky man, with a baleful look on his face. Then the proctor yelled, "Begin!"

And the fight was off.


	6. Malfoy Manor

Author's Note:

I find myself apologizing again for taking so terribly long getting the next chapter up. Things have been pretty crazy and really busy for both me and my beta. We're getting the chapters up as fast as possible so please forgive us for the inconvenience.

Merry Christmas,

~ThaniMag

Chapter 5: Malfoy Manor

It was late, and the Ministry of Magic was all but deserted. One office, however, still remained occupied.

Ginny Weasley—dark rings of exhaustion evident under her eyes—sat alone, working. Her hair was a mess, and her hands shook from too much sugar in too many cups of coffee.

Her son remained missing, and still no word had been received from Harry, for whom she had begun to worry. On top of this, there remained the whole issue of trying to find the missing prince of France, and they hadn't gotten any further with the case of the magical texts, either.

She suspected that the next strike would come at Malfoy Manor. It was an ancient magical place, and it contained many books on magic lore and history.

Draco Malfoy had offered to go after his son, and at first she had been hesitant [because he'd be leaving his mansion alone?]. She had then realized, however, that if he was gone, perhaps the criminals would be provoked into attempting to get at his books of magic.

If that did happen, the Aurors would be lying in wait for them. As soon as he had left, she had stationed several Aurors at his manor. She had also alerted several others and had cast a charm between them all, so that if the criminals did happen to strike the manor, all the Aurors would be alerted immediately, and be able to apparate to the scene with all speed.

The hope was that they would be able to take the thieves by surprise, capture a few, and find out some much needed information.

***

Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, and Zacharias Smith all reclined in the library at Malfoy Manor. A tray of bottomless food and drinks floated by each Auror, compliments of Malfoy's wife, Natalie, before she had headed to bed. They sat in the dark, not wishing to alert the thieves that might be one their way if Ginny's surmise was correct.

As they sat there in the dark, discussing the latest Quidditch upset, Seamus felt the growing need to relieve himself.

Seamus rose to his feet and stretched his arms. "I'm off to the loo, if I can find it in this massive place."

"Here, Natalie left directions to it before she went to bed." Dean proffered a piece of paper out to Seamus.

Seamus grumbled as he took the paper and read it. "What type of house needs a whole map just to tell someone how to get to the loo?"

Zacharias chortled. "This place is huge alright, the Malfoys are loaded."

Seamus wandered through the manor in the dark, not using a light in case the thieves showed up. He guided himself by feeling the walls, or by the occasional pool of moonlight that came in through a window or doorway. He followed the directions as best he could. After he had been wandering for about fifteen minutes, he halted in his tracks and looked at the paper again, realizing he had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way.

Grumbling once more about the absurdity of how large the house was, he set himself back on the right course. As he neared the bathroom he sensed movement in the shadows ahead of him. He froze, and silently pressed himself up against the wall.

There were two of them. They stood with their backs to him, and wore dark cloaks with hoods pulled forwards, shielding their faces. They crept forwards silently, edging towards the door at the end of the corridor.

Seamus muttered a word and stuck the point of his wand into the palm of his hand, activating the charm that would call the other Aurors.

The two figures heard him and whirled around, wands outstretched, "_Stupefy!_" they yelled in unison. Identical jets of red light shot at Seamus.

"_Protego!_" yelled Seamus, blocking one of the spells, and narrowly dodging the other that whipped past his right shoulder.

They exchanged a few more spells, dueling up and down the corridor, before both of the figures crumpled forwards, hit from behind.

In their place stood Ginny, flanked by six more Aurors. "Quick! Lead us to the library!" Ginny ordered Seamus.

With a nod, Seamus turned and dashed off down the hall, followed closely by Ginny and the other Aurors.

As they flew into the hallway which opened onto the library, they found themselves in the middle of a dozen cloaked figures.

The cloaked figures had clearly been expecting them, and a battle began immediately. The figures rushed to cut off the Aurors from accessing the library; evidently they were trying to protect someone who was most likely looking for something in there.

Ginny threw herself into the fray with vigor, and brought down two of the enemy in less than a minute. Seamus brought another one to his knees. Meanwhile an Auror was hit from a rebounding killing curse off the ceiling, and immediately sank to the floor. Another Auror was hit in the face by a hex and began sprouting weeds that started to strangle him. A third Auror rushed to help him out.

Seamus yelled over the sounds of the battle, "Dean and Zacharias were in the library when I left, we need to help them!" Ginny desperately tried to get to the library, but was making no headway since she was forced to duel three enemies at once.

Three cloaked figures then emerged from the library. One of them had a large book under his arm and immediately yelled out over the sounds of battle, "Let's go, we got what we came for!"

All of the figures turned and ran, firing curses and hexes off over their shoulders in an attempt to slow down the Aurors.

The Aurors sprinted in pursuit, deflecting spells left and right with flicks of their wands.

The enemies split into three groups and all ran down separate corridors. Seamus ran after one group with another Auror, while the two remaining Aurors rushed after the second group, and Ginny dashed after the final group—the group she thought she'd seen the man with the book go with.

She rushed down a staircase, pursuing the sound of running footsteps. After charging down a couple of more corridors, she flew into a room into which she had seen a trailing bit of robe disappear.

It was a sitting room, and the figure with the book and two others were standing by an open window directly across from her.

One of the figures leapt out the window as another turned and caught sight of her. Before he had time to have any kind of reaction, Ginny hit him square in the chest with a hex, and he toppled backwards and over the window sill.

The only one left now was the one with the book. He went for the window, but Ginny sent a spell flying across the room in an instant which slammed him into the wall. The book spun out of his hand and flew across the floor.

The man yet out a yell of pain and pushed off the wall, was across the room in the blink of an eye, and tackled her into the couch, which toppled over backwards with the impact, leaving them both struggling on the floor. Ginny managed to free her fist and shot it out, connecting with the man's shadowed face.

His head snapped back, reacting to the force of the punch. As his head flew backwards, his hood slipped off, revealing his identity.

Blaise Zabini, pale white face framed by his silky black hair, nose bleeding slightly due to Ginny's last punch, grinned at her as she stared in horror and surprise. "I can see you never suspected me, Weasley. Now you finally know who's been behind all the robberies. I don't have much time to stay and chat though."

Ginny was too numb with shock to move as Blaise grabbed her hand and, with one smooth motion, pulled it palm up over his shoulder, and slammed it down onto his shoulder with all his might.

Unable to bend that way, Ginny's arm snapped with a sickening crack. She screamed at the sudden intense pain, and pealed over sideways onto the floor.

Blaise kicked her wand spinning to the far side of the room, far out of her reach. He then strode over and picked up the book he had gone to all this trouble to get.

He crossed to the window in a couple of strides. "You know, it doesn't matter that you know my identity now. I've got all I need right here." He patted the book under his arm. "You would have found out soon anyway."

Without another word, Blaise launched himself over the windowsill, disappearing from view.

Ginny groaned in pain and cradled her snapped arm into her chest. It was useless to try to get her wand; even if she could get that far, she'd never be able to heal herself, since it was her wand hand that was snapped. There was nothing to do but wait until someone found her.

She lay where she had fallen on the floor, her face turning ashen from the pain in her arm. She couldn't here any more sounds of battle or pursuit, and she wondered what could have happened, and if Seamus and the other Aurors were okay.

After about ten minutes, she heard a voice, very faint, calling her name. "In here!" she yelled with all the might she could muster, but then she groaned from the pain it caused her.

The voice called again, slightly louder this time. Ginny again yelled out as best she could. Slowly the voice worked its way closer, and, finally, Natalie Malfoy stood framed in the doorway.

She saw Ginny lying curled up on the floor, and with a gasp she rushed to her side. "Ginny, what happened?!"

"Quick, my arm--it's snapped. Do you know the healing charm for fixing broken bones?" Ginny pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning against the overturned couch.

"Yes, of course. Since Draco is an Auror, he taught me some healing charms in case the need ever arose. Sit as still as possible so I can fix it." Her brow furrowed in concentration as she placed the tip of her wand gently on Ginny's forearm, "_Resarcio!_" There was a flash of white light.

Ginny's arm whipped back into a normal position, a nice change from the weirdly bent angle it had been at.

"Thanks." Ginny swung her arm left and right, testing it out. "That's some nice work; Draco must be a good teacher."

Natalie blushed, "Oh yeah, he's a great teacher."

Ginny went over and grabbed her wand. "What's happened? How did you come to look for me?"

Natalie rose to her feet. "The sound of battle woke me up. I went to the library and found Seamus and some of the other Aurors trying to clean up the mess everywhere. Seamus filled me in and asked if I could look for you, seeing as you hadn't returned yet."

"Why'd he send you when the thieves could still be lurking about?"

Natalie shrugged, "He seemed fairly confident that since they had gotten what they wanted, there'd be no way they'd endanger themselves by hanging around longer. Besides, I'm the wife of an Auror, which makes me practically as good as one." She flashed a little smug look.

Ginny raised her eyebrows, but sighed in relief. "Well at least that means Seamus is okay. Could you show me the way back? I was in a rush on the way here and didn't take the time to make sure I knew the route."

"Of course, follow me." Natalie hurried out of the room, followed closely by Ginny.

When they got to the corridor, they found the Aurors fixing up the walls that had gotten bits blasted off during the fight. "Where's Seamus?" Ginny asked of one of them. He pointed to the library door.

Ginny entered to find Seamus talking to Zacharias Smith. Zacharias was speaking, "I don't know what happened. I was just sitting there like I had been, then I turned to grab another sandwich from the tray, and that's all I remember. I don't know how they could have taken us by such surprise."

Seamus turned to Ginny, "Dean is missing, and we think they abducted him for some reason or another."

"What? No! I can't afford the loss of Dean…What do they gain from abducting him?"

Seamus shrugged, "Hostage?"

"No, that can't be the reason. They know he's an Auror, and there'd be no way they could hold any sway over us with him. Dean knows the dangers of being an Auror and that this could happen; all Aurors do.

"What about the others? What are the losses? Did we manage to take any of the robbers prisoner?"

"Ferguson and Bertie are dead; the rest have minor injuries. As for the robbers…we didn't manage to catch any of the fleeing ones, and by the time we got back up here all of the rest of them—the ones we'd killed or stunned—were gone. Both Ferguson and Bertie died for nothing…"

"Not exactly, I found out who their leader is."

Zacharias jumped in, "What? Who is it?!"

"Blaise Zabini." Both of Zacharias' and Seamus' jaws dropped in astonishment

"_Zabini?!_ But why? What are his intentions?" Seamus looked thoughtful.

"The question is why would someone so high up in the Ministry, with such a promising career ahead of him, throw that away for some mere robberies?" wondered Zacharias aloud.

"He clearly has something else in mind for what he stole; money is obviously not what he's after. There must be some information in those books that he needs. I also don't know how he managed to get so many men to follow him. This is all over my head, but I'll get to the bottom of it," Ginny answered them both.

"We need to go to Zabini's manor and search it." Ginny continued, "I think we need to go right now, so he doesn't have time to cover up anything if he was careless enough to leave anything of interest lying around.

"Have anyone that is still functional gather back here in ten minutes."

Seamus and Zacharias rushed out of the room to follow her orders. Natalie stepped forwards.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, concern written all over her face.

"Thank you, but no. You've done enough already, Natalie. Sorry about your house; I think my Aurors have cleaned up most of it, but I don't think they got around to the sitting room."

"That's no problem, it will only take me a minute to clean that up. Thanks for being here and trying to stop them. I wish you the best of luck in your attempt to get to the bottom of all this." She smiled at Ginny encouragingly.

Ginny started to turn away, but then hesitated, and turned back. "Natalie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm so sorry about what happened to Scorpius, I don't know what happened to Albus; he never once gave me a sign that he was angry, or desperate, or upset. I had no clue that my son was capable of such a horrible thing as threatening another student's life.

"And now, because of my son, your son is missing, and Draco is away looking for him. Both their lives could be in danger… I feel terrible; and so crushed as well." Ginny felt some tears fighting to be let go, but she held them back, determined not to break down at a time like this.

Natalie either wasn't putting the effort into it that Ginny was, or just couldn't do it. She burst into tears and sank to the floor.

Ginny rushed forwards, lowered herself to Natalie's level, and wrapped her arms around her. Then the tears came. They cried silently together, both worried far more then they outwardly showed, about their sons and their husbands, whose lives could all be in danger.

There was a quiet knock at the door; Ginny looked up to see Seamus standing there, a concerned expression on his face. Ginny hastily rose to her feet, wiping her tears away, knowing it wouldn't be right to be seen crying in front of her Aurors.

Natalie rose to her feet as well. "You can go back to bed now Natalie, nothing more should bother you tonight," Ginny told Natalie.

"Thank you," said Natalie, looking at Ginny. Then she turned and left the room, still sniffling quietly.

Seamus turned to the Aurors standing behind him and asked them to wait a minute. He walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

He stepped towards Ginny, his expression really concerned now. "Are you okay?"

"Yes Seamus, I'm fine." Ginny turned her face away from him.

He stepped closer to her, putting his hand on her chin and pulling it up so she would look at him. Unconcealed deep concern was evident in his Irish eyes.

"I know things have been tough on you lately, with Harry away in France, and all that's been going on with this case, and then the whole thing with Albus.

"Everyone has limits, even you Ginny. I think you need to rest, maybe you should go home and let me lead the investigation into the Zabini manor."

"No!" Ginny was adamant. "I can do this; I _need_ to lead this investigation. If I go home I'll just lay awake and brood over things that I can't do anything about. Please Seamus," she begged him.

He looked into her eyes, wondering if he should consent. He sighed. "Okay, but please, don't push yourself too hard."

She gave him a brief hug. "Call them in," She nodded towards the door.

Once the Aurors had gathered in a circle, Ginny looked each one in the eye as she informed them of the new information she had discovered, and then explained that they were going to go immediately to the Blaise Manor and search it.

"Anyone who's not up to it can head home or to St. Mungo's to get wounds treated. So, who's in?"

Everyone raised their hands. "Okay, make sure to stick together in pairs, just in case something happens. Let's go."

One by one the Aurors spun on the spot and disapparated, heading out on another potentially life threatening mission.


	7. Two More Join the Crew

Author's Note:

Due to only two reviews being posted on the last chapter, I am going to have to ask that I get at least seven reviews on this chapter, or I will not continue to post. If there aren't at least seven people who enjoy this story enough to review, then there is no point in me continuing to write it.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 6: Two More Join the Crew

Albus and Scorpius walked side by side as they returned to their motel. It had been a successful night for Albus; he hadn't lost a single fight.

Scorpius walked in silence, staring at his feet, still brooding over the last day and a half. Albus on the other hand was staring at the sky, his hands locked behind his head,, whistling gaily.

Scorpius shot him a glare, disgusted. "Why are you so happy?"

Albus smirked at him. "Why shouldn't I be? I just schooled all those guys in there," he jerked his head over his shoulder, "and proved I'm better than them."

Scorpius rolled his eyes.

Albus frowned. "It's kind of lame though. I came here hoping there'd be someone better than me. I'm only sixteen, and I'm the best…people are so disappointing."

Scorpius rolled his eyes again. "You really think if someone was any good they'd be wasting their time in a dump like that?"

Albus frowned again, growing pensive. "You're right…how do I find the people that are actually worth fighting?" He fell silent.

After several more minutes devoid of conversation, they arrived at the motel. Isabella was still behind the counter, talking to a middle-aged woman with dark pink hair.

"Malfoy, head to the room. I'll be there in a sec. I just need to ask Isabella something." Albus tossed Scorpius the key to the room. Scorpius rolled his eyes for the third time. Grumbling, he headed for the room.

Scorpius unlocked the door, entered, and threw himself on his bed. He fished the remote control for the TV off his desk and flipped to Fox Movies. His interest perked up as he recognized _The Matrix_.

Five minutes later, just as Neo and Morpheus were beginning to spar in the training program, Albus entered, grinning.

Scorpius turned the volume on the TV down a few notches. "What are you so happy about?"

Albus looked over at Scorpius. "Oh, it's nothing. By the way, I'm letting you leave in the morning." Without another word Albus leapt into his bed and rolled so that he was facing away from Scorpius.

Scorpius stared at Albus' back in surprise, but didn't say anything. Then a smile spread across his face as he turned and resumed watching _The Matrix_.

***

Hermione whipped the Porsche around a corner, following the tug of the tracking charm. Bill let out a yell of surprise. "Calm down 'Mione! We can't help either Malfoy or Albus if we die in a car crash!" Hermione just smirked.

"Don't be a baby Bill. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

After being released by the Muggle police, Hermione and Bill had quickly found the nearest rental shop, and rushed to get a car.

Being Muggle born, Hermione had spent her childhood dreaming of the day she would get her driver's license. Then she had found out she was a witch, but had still insisted on getting a driver's license even though witches and wizards didn't use them. She hadn't gotten as many chances to drive as she had wanted, however—and had never been able to drive the flashy cars she dreamed of.

Hermione insited, therefore, that they take the opportunity to rent a Porsche, and that she be the one to drive it.

"When was the last time you actually drove a car 'Mione?" Bill asked, hastily fastening his seat belt as they whipped around another corner.

"Just two months ago, when I was in Spain." She stopped the car with a screech, barely avoiding running a red light.

"Oh right, I forgot, you only just got back like a month ago. How was your trip?" He was slammed back into his seat as Hermione hit the acceleration.

"It was pretty good, got a lot of material for my newest novel."

"That's good."

"We're here."

Hermione pulled the Porsche over to the side of the road. They were across from an abandoned building. A couple of the windows were boarded up and some were shattered.

Bill looked over at her. "What's the plan?"

She stared at the warehouse. "We get in there and incapacitate all of them before they have the chance to hurt Malfoy any more."

"Sweet and to the point—I like it."

They both unfastened their seat belts and drew their wands.

Simultaneously they threw the car doors open and leaped out. They sprinted across the street as fast as they could. Hermione opened the door silently with a spell and rushed inside.

They were in a small entrance room. Two Muggles with guns sat, one under each window. They were clearly slacking off on their job and were completely surprised when Bill and Hermione barged in.

They were so astonished to see Bill and Hermione that they were both stunned before they managed to react.

Entering the next room Hermione found at least a dozen more Muggles, all armed and sprawled at random points across the room. In one corner Draco sat leaning against a wall, bound and gagged.

Hermione and Bill managed to stun three of them before anyone had the time to realize what was going on.

The Muggles hastily scrambled for their weapons and dove for cover behind miscellaneous chairs and tables.

Hermione and Bill found themselves being shot at from all directions. Hermione threw up a charm around them that stopped all the bullets in midair, right before they hit them.

After firing off numerous rounds, the Muggles stopped and stared in awe, not understanding what was going on.

With a sweep of her wand Hermione sent the bullets flying back at the Muggles who had fired them. They didn't hit with enough power to actually enter their bodies, but they did sting, and the mobsters threw up their arms to shield their faces.

While they were trying to protect themselves, Bill rushed forwards, and threw himself on two of the Muggles with a yell. Three more Muggles flung themselves onto Bill, attempting to help their comrades.

Bill was a bigger man than most, and a good fighter. He roared and swung his fists wildly, sending the Muggles sprawling left and right.

Meanwhile Hermione had dispatched two more Muggles with quick hexes. While Hermione had been dealing with those two, a third had crawled over, and forced his pistol to the side of Draco's head.

"Come any closer, you demon-possessed woman, and I'll kill him!" bellowed the desperate Muggle. "I don't know what the heck you're able to do with that stick of yours, but get back I say!"

Completely ignoring what the Muggle had said, Hermione's wand snapped around so fast it was only a blur. The next thing that anyone knew, the Muggle had peeled over backwards and lay flat on his back.

Bill had knocked three of his opponents senseless. Two were still fighting desperately, and a third was hiding behind a table that had been turned on its side.

Leaping out from behind the table, the Muggle fired wildly at Bill. Bill groaned in pain as three bullets penetrated his body. He collapsed on the floor as Hermione let out a yell.

The Muggle had fired so wildly he had also brought down both of his comrades, making him the last one of the Muggles still standing.

Hermione sent him blasting into the wall with a jinx, and then rushed over to the still figure of Bill. She extracted the bullets with magic in a matter of seconds, then proceeded to heal the wounds where they had entered.

Once she had finished, Bill groaned and rose to his knees. "Thanks 'Mione."

Hermione sighed with relief. "You're lucky you aren't dead. What were you thinking, tossing aside your wand like that?"

Bill shrugged, "I knew there wasn't really any danger, and it'd been so long since I'd had a good fight."

Hermione muttered something about the stupidity of men, and then rushed over to Draco.

As soon as his gag was off, he swore colorfully. "You're lucky I'm not dead Granger!" Draco glared at Hermione as he called her by her maiden name. "They could have killed me at any time. You're lucky they were too occupied wondering what demon possessed beings had come in on them."

Hermione glared back. "I don't even get a thank you?"

"Maybe after you heal my arm; it burns like Hades."

Hermione quickly released his bonds and healed his bandaged arm with a word.

"Thank you," obliged Draco grudgingly as he rose to his feet. "I don't suppose either of you managed to grab my wand?"

Bill pulled it out of his jacket pocket and handed it over.

As Draco accepted it, he looked around. "We need to wipe their memories. We don't want any delusional Muggles running around town yelling about demon-possessed beings…"

As they set about wiping the memories of all the Muggles that were still alive, Hermione threw side-long glances at Draco when he wasn't looking.

He had changed a lot since their years at Hogwarts together. He was tall and lean, and in top physical shape. He had grown quieter over the years, turning into a more solemn and serious wizard. A bit of his silky blond hair fell down over his face as he leaned over. He had matured a lot since their school days.

Hermione rose to her feet as she erased the memory of the last Muggle. "What now?" She asked, looking at Draco.

"It's too late to do anything now. I think we should check into a hotel and sleep till morning."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Bill replied as he stretched out his arms.

They checked into a Days Inn, and rented three singles. As Hermione drifted off to sleep, she thought about her children, and wondered if any of them were dealing with issues similar to what Albus was experiencing—whatever that was exactly.

***

In the morning they didn't rush. They got up around nine, and grabbed some breakfast before deciding they should head over to the Floo Network and try to pick up the trail from there.

As they neared the Floo Network, Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and stared. There, standing right outside the Floo Network doors, stood Lily Potter and Zoë Dursley. Bill sucked in his breath between his teeth. "This just gets more and more complicated, doesn't it?"

Hermione's anger was rising. "We're going to send them back immediately. This is not some kind of adventure for random people to join in whenever they want. This trip has already proven dangerous."

As they neared the two teenagers, Lily turned and caught sight of them. A grimace flashed across her features and disappeared so quickly that Hermione barely caught it. Lily hissed something to Zoë who turned slowly to face them as they drew nearer.

"WHAT are you two doing here?!" Ground out Hermione as she stormed up to them.

Lily put her hands on her hips and with a flick of her head sent her long red hair out of her face, looking for the entire world like the teenage version of her mother. "Getting Albus. Why ELSE would we be here, huh?!"

"It's too dangerous. Both of you are getting right back into the fireplace you came out of and are heading back to London."

"No."

"What did you say?!"

"I'm sorry Aunt 'Mione, but no, I won't." She jutted her chin out in defiance. "Albus is my brother, and I care about him."

Hermione sighed with exasperation. Draco looked quite amused.

Hermione turned on Zoë. "And what do YOU have to say for yourself young lady?"

Zoë Dursley was the daughter of Harry's Muggle cousin Dudley Dursley, and his wife Katrina. Dudley had been delighted when she had gotten her acceptance letter to Hogwarts; Katrina, on the other hand, hadn't been so happy.

She was quite tall as far as girls went, and could hardly be called a weak-willed woman, yet, as she stood towering over Hermione, she looked as if she would rather be anywhere else.

"I, um, sort of got dragged here by Lily. I didn't want to come, but Lily wanted some help, and she figured Hugo was too young."

Hermione turned back on Lily. "Oh, so Hugo's too young is he, but you aren't? Last time I checked Hugo was three months older than you…"

Lily waved it away impatiently. "Hugo just isn't as capable as I am, or as mature." Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry girls, but I'm going to have to send you back. You're just too young, and this trip has already proved quite dangerous."

Lily shook her head fervently in frustration. "You don't get it Aunt 'Mione. I'm NOT going back. How is it fair that all of you can come look for Albus, but not me?! I'm his own _sister_; I think I have the right to look for him."

Hermione hesitated and took a half-step back in surprise. As she looked down into her young niece's eyes, she saw frustration, love and admiration for her brother, and intense tenacity and determination.

"Okay, FINE, but you have to stick close to us and promise that'll you'll obey anything we say." Hermione gave in finally.

"Woohoo!" Lily leapt for joy.

Zoë grumbled something under her breath, more upset now that she was going to have to stay than before when she was going to leave.

"What? Hermione, I really don't know about this…" Bill said, quite unsure about the decision.

"Yeah, I'm also not sure about this choice…" Draco joined Bill's side of the argument.

Just then, a familiar silky blonde-haired teenager walked around the corner and froze in surprise when he saw all of them standing on the side of the road.

"_Dad?_" Scorpius ran forwards and embraced his father.

"Scorpius! Are you okay?" Draco asked anxiously as he pulled back from the hug.

"Yeah, I'm great. What are all of you doing here?" He looked around in confusion at all of them.

"We were looking for you and Albus, of course! But where is Albus? I thought he was holding you by force."

"He was, he only just last night decided to let me go this morning, I have no clue what made him change his mind."

Lily butted in. "Can you lead us back to where he is?"

"Yeah, sure I can."

"Then quick, let's go!"

Scorpius turned and they quickly set off in the direction of the motel he'd come from.

As they walked Scorpius filled them in on all that had happened the last two days. Hermione was particularly curious about the fight club.

After he had satisfied all their questions, he dropped back to match Zoë's stride. She pointedly turned her face away, letting her long shiny raven-black hair form a barrier between them.

He looked curiously at her. "I don't think we've ever met before. What school do you go to?"

She whipped her head around to face him again. Anger was evident on her face. "_Hogwarts!_" she hissed.

"Oh," Scorpius blushed, "what year are you in?"

"_Sixth,_" she spat in anger again.

Scorpius blushed even deeper. "I'm sorry; I'm not a very observant person."

Zoë snorted. "That's what they all say. No one every notices me…"

Scorpius' jaw dropped. "How are you serious? You're gorgeous, how does no one notice you?"

Zoë's hand sped out so fast that Scorpius had no chance to dodge or block. Her hand crossed his cheek with a resounding slap. "There is more to me than my body and looks! Believe it or not, I _do_ have a personality."

Scorpius stepped back in shock. "Of course, that isn't what I meant at all!" Zoë walked on, looking straight ahead, refusing to look at him.

"Look, why don't we start over again, okay?" He had to jog slightly to catch back up with Zoë. He was surprised—it was the first time he could remember ever having to jog to catch up to a girl. "My name is Scorpius Malfoy." He stuck out his hand.

She stopped, hesitating, merely looking at his hand. Making a mental decision, she took his hand. "Zoë Dursley, Slytherin house."

"Slytherin, eh?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

Her eyes blazed immediately with anger. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Scorpius threw caution to the wind. "Of course there isn't." They walked in silence for a minute. "You like Quidditch?" asked Scorpius, making an attempt at starting a conversation.

"I play Beater on the Slytherin house team," replied Zoë flatly.

Scorpius stumbled slightly. _Man, I just keep making her madder and madder, and keep making myself look like more and more of an idiot... And boy is this some woman, I think she's the first girl Beater I've heard of… _

"What are some classes you're in?" asked Scorpius, attempting again at a decent conversation.

"I'm in your Charms class." Zoë threw him a glance out of the corner of her eye as she said this.

Scorpius face turned slightly green. _You're frickin' kidding me, right? How can I have been in a class with her all year and not even recognize her as being a Hogwarts student? What is WRONG with me?_ Scorpius wondered at himself.

He looked up and realized they had reached the street they needed to turn on to reach Jane & Isaac's. They turned onto it, and all walked in silence.

As they walked towards it, Scorpius wondered how Albus was going to take this little surprise party. _He'll hate me even more, _he thought dully.

As they got halfway down the street, Scorpius froze in the middle, astonished and dismayed. Everyone paused behind him, wondering what the matter was.

He was staring at a point on the side of the road. It was the spot where _Jane & Isaac's_ was, or more correctly, _should_ have been. Because there was the building on the left of the motel, and there was the building on the right of the motel, but there was nothing between them, and definitely not enough space for a motel.


	8. Scorpius Impresses

Author's Note:

I achieved the seven reviews I asked for, so here is the next chapter. I will try really hard to steadily post a chapter a week from now on. Please leave a review, both positive and critical are welcome. What you think about the story is what I want to hear.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 7: Scorpius Impresses

Ginny stomped into her house in frustration and collapsed on the couch in exhaustion. She and the Aurors had arrived at the Blaise manor to find it abandoned. A thorough search had revealed nothing of interest.

Suddenly the fire flamed up in the grate, and the Prime Minister, Michael Corner, came shooting out of it. Ginny leapt in surprise.

Michael pulled himself to his feet and brushed soot off his robes. "I apologize for startling you, Ginevra."

"No, no it's fine Minister."

"I'm sorry for dropping in on you at such a bad time. I understand you just got back from a search of the Blaise manor, and I know you must be tired, but I knew you'd want this information immediately.

"While you were gone we got contacted by the Danish government." Ginny perked up at that. "They said they've taken Harry into custody until we turn over the Crown Prince, or can prove we have no idea of his whereabouts."

Ginny's hand flew to her mouth in horror. She couldn't take this, not now, not with Albus still missing, and the onerous task of getting to the bottom of the Blaise case… She fell onto the couch in despair.

"Ginny!" Michael rushed over to her. "Are you okay? I'm really sorry; we're doing the best we can to negotiate with them. They won't believe that we had nothing to do with the disappearance of the prince. Don't worry though, we WILL get Harry back, and unharmed too. We've got the whole Ministry in an uproar trying to find out what happened to the prince—don't worry."

Ginny knew she had to pull herself together. She couldn't fall apart at a time like this. She was head of the Aurors and she needed to be in control of herself and able to lead.

"It's okay, I understand. I know I should expect things like this, what with being an Auror and Harry being a diplomat like he is."

Michael looked concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?" Ginny nodded in response.

"I heard the news about Blaise. Naturally it's very discouraging news. He was so high up in the Ministry. No wonder he was able to pull off those robberies, with all the information he had access to."

Ginny sighed. "Yeah that makes sense, but what I don't get is why he did it. With the promising career he still had ahead of him, it just confounds me."

Michael nodded in agreement. "I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of the case soon, though."

"I certainly hope so; I just don't know were to go from here."

"I'm sure you'll pick up the trail. Don't worry Ginevra, you're the best Head Auror the Ministry has had in a long time. Anyway, I have to run, but I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

He walked over to the fireplace and pulled out a small packet of floo powder from his robes. He hesitated for a second and then said quietly, "If it's any consolation, the Danish wouldn't dare hurt Harry. If they did, they'd have a mass uprising of wizards and witches on their hands. Harry did save the whole world after all."

Ginny looked up in surprise as he said this. Michael threw the floo powder into the fireplace, and as the flames roared up, he walked forward, disappearing from view.

***

"It was right here, I swear," Scorpius said while looking in confusion at the spot where the motel should have been.

Draco moved forward and looked more closely at the place the two buildings joined together.

"Well, at least we know now that the rich kid has absolutely no memory whatsoever…" Lily said, her arms crossed in contempt.

Scorpius glowered at her.

"Lily! Don't talk so rudely!" Hermione chided at her.

"Well he clearly either has a crappy memory, or he's off his bonkers…"

"Lily Potter, cut that out right now!" Hermione said, cautioning.

"Yes Aunt Hermione," Lily answered respectfully, and then fell silent.

"What does that mean we do now?" Bill asked.

"I'm not sure," answered Hermione.

Draco walked over, looking thoughtful. "This is the right place alright, and I know why we can't see it. It's some sort of illusion charm. I'm guessing it gets fired off when it detects a stranger who's looking for one of the guests on its lists."

"Oh yeah, I've read about those types of charms...but how do we get through it?"

"I now some counter-charms I can try. Just sit back and hold your horses while I try them out." Looking around to make sure there were no Muggles about, Draco walked up to the wall again. He ran his wand up and down where the two buildings joined, muttering the words for the counter-charms under his breath all the while.

After about fifteen minutes with no successful results, Draco gave up. He walked in defeat to join his companions sitting on the sidewalk. "Well I used up all of the counter-charms I know, and none of them worked. This is some really powerful illusion."

"So what can we do?" asked Hermione anxiously.

"I don't know…" Draco trailed off, thinking.

"I know!" Scorpius leapt forward eagerly as Hermione and Draco looked up in surprise.

"Last night Potter went to a fight club, and he took me with him. I'm sure he'll go there again tonight. The only problem is, I can't remember how to get there. It was dark and rainy last night, and I wasn't really paying much attention." He screwed up his face in concentration as he tried to remember.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Draco, "all we have to do is use Legilimency."

"Are you sure Malfoy? That's powerful magic, and it can go astray." Hermione was concerned.

"It won't be a problem, I assure you Granger. I'm an Auror, I'm trained to do stuff like this, and I will only do it if Scorpius is willing." He turned and looked at his son questioningly.

"Of course I'm willing. It'll help us get Potter back."

Hermione let out an inaudible gasp. It astonished her to the bone that Scorpius was so willing to go look for Albus after all he'd been put through. She couldn't imagine why in the world he would want to. There was obviously more to Scorpius Malfoy then met the eye.

"Don't fight it Scorpius. And it would be helpful if you could push the memories you have to the front of your mind, so I have easy access to them." Scorpius nodded in acknowledgement of his father's directions.

Stepping close to Scorpius, Draco put his hand on his son's head and gently pushed the tip of his wand into Scorpius' forehead. "_Legilimens!_" yelled Draco.

Scorpius gasped and took a step back, tripping over the curb and falling on his back as his father dove into his memories. Scorpius could feel many of his memories being yanked to the front of his mind so his father could observe them. Floods of images poured through his thoughts as his father searched for the ones they needed.

Pictures of Scorpius' childhood went shooting by, and then more recent ones from school. The time he'd first met Stephanie, right after he had been sorted, flashed through his mind in an instant.

Finally, after much yanking, Draco pulled the images of the dark and rainy night out of Scorpius' sub-conscious memory.

Scorpius' vision cleared, and he was left staring up at the blue sky. His back stung slightly where he had scraped it as he fell over, and he had a slight headache, but otherwise he was fine.

Scorpius pulled himself into a sitting position to see Hermione's worried face in front of him. "Are you alright Scorpius?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He rose to his feet and turned to his dad. "Did you get what we needed?"

"Yes, I should easily be able to work out how to get there from the images I observed." He was looking at his son with pride. "Well done Scorpius. Legilimency is not an easy thing to go through, and you did well."

Lily snorted, as Zoë raised her eyebrows. Hermione glared at Lily as Scorpius looked away, embarrassed.

Bill was twirling his wand idly, bored. "So…What do we do now?"

Draco immediately had an answer. "Well, seeing as Albus was at the fight club for almost half the night, I doubt he'll go back until at least twilight, if not later. So I think we should just head back to the hotel and camp out until then, and then we can head over and hope to intercept him before he gets there."

Bill sighed, "Sure, sounds like as good a plan as any. Let's go."

They walked back to the hotel in silence. Scorpius kept shooting side-long glances at Zoë, wondering how he could maybe start up a decent conversation without making a fool out of himself again.

He berated himself mentally for never having noticed her before. He had even played Quidditch against her and not noticed her! He couldn't believe he was so unobservant.

But it seemed to him that she needed a friend, and so did he. He had felt so lonely the last couple of days.

When they reached the hotel they checked out another single room for Scorpius, and a double for Zoë and Lily to share.

As soon as Scorpius entered his room he threw himself on the bed. He gazed at the ceiling and daydreamed for about an hour before boredom pushed him to his feet. He left the room and swung the door shut behind him.

He walked down the hall till he arrived at Zoë and Lily's room. He could hear music seeping out from behind the door. It sounded like "Ugly Side" by _Blue October_.

He knocked on the door. He heard footsteps behind the door and then it swung slowly inward. Lily stood framed in the doorway. Her red eyebrows shot up high on her forehead as she saw who it was. "Yes?" she asked curiously.

Scorpius shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and looked back defiantly. "I was wondering if I could come in." He looked her in the eye, as if daring her to say no.

Lily's eyebrows shot up even higher, if that was possible. "Sure, I guess."

The room was neat and tidy. Lily and Zoë had each brought a backpack from England, but neither had bothered to unpack anything.

The room had two single beds, a night lamp on a bed-side table, and a desk with a chair. Early afternoon light poured in through a window at the far-side of the room.

The music was emanating from an iPod and headphones that lay on one of the beds. The music was magically amplified so that it could be heard throughout the room.

Zoë sat on the floor, leaning against the wall right under the window. The light coming in through the window pooled around her, shining off her black hair, and making the air around her head seem to shine with extra light. Her head was bent down, but she looked up when Scorpius entered. She frowned.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Zoë asked, rather confused.

Lily turned down the music so that the words were only slightly audible, and collapsed on the bed, looking at Scorpius curiously. "I was wondering that too." She continued to look at him expectantly.

Scorpius ignored their question. "Blue October, eh? I would have guessed you girls to be more into metal…"

Lily snorted. "Are you kidding me? All metal, except for a few songs, is junk."

Scorpius shrugged. "It has its place."

"Next you'll be telling me rap is good…"

"Actually no, I can't stand rap. I can't believe those people consider themselves musicians."

"THANK YOU! Finally someone agrees with me…But anyway, what are you doing here?"

Scorpius shrugged again. "It was boring in my room, all by my lonesome."

"So you decided to bring your pathetic-ness here? We were doing just _fine_ without you," Lily said dramatically.

Scorpius shrugged for a third time, wordlessly.

"Well we don't really want you here…" Lily looked at him, wanting to know what he would do.

"Fine, whatever, I'll leave." He turned and started to go.

Zoe hesitated, as if trying to make a decision. Finally she spoke up. "No, it's fine Lily; he can stay."

Characteristically, Lily raised her eyebrows at Zoë. "Fine. You can stay, Malfoy."

Scorpius drew the chair out from the desk and sat down. He looked sidelong at Zoë. "Sorry about showing how much of an idiot I am earlier today."

"No it's fine," Zoë's shoulders tensed, "hardly anyone at Hogwarts knows that I exist. I wouldn't expect you, a random Hufflepuff student, to."

"What does being a Hufflepuff have to do with it?" Scorpius bristled angrily.

"Oh, nothing. I just meant that you're not even in my house, so when people who _are_ in my house don't even know me, how can I expect you to?"

"People in your house don't even know you?" Scorpius' jaw dropped.

"Most of them don't, a few know me by sight, but they don't KNOW me."

"How come?"

Zoë shrugged, "I try to go unnoticed, and I don't exactly try to have friendships with the people around me."

Scorpius was surprised. "Why?"

Zoë looked away. "Let's just say I'm not overly happy about being a witch. I was happy with an ordinary Muggle life; that was all I ever wanted."

Scorpius was shocked to the bone. He had never heard a witch or wizard say that they'd rather be a Muggle. It was unheard of.

Lily, who had been listening to the dialogue without saying a word, spoke up before Scorpius could think of something to say.

"Malfoy, why are you here?"

"Huh? You already asked that and I told you, I was bored…"

"No, that's not what I meant. Why are you still here in Chicago? You and your dad could already be back home."

Scorpius looked surprised at the question; as if he thought the answer was obvious. "Because I can help; I know the most about Albus' whereabouts."

"Yeah, but still, none of us, or Albus, has ever shown you the smallest bit of warmth or kindness. Why would you do this for us, especially after what Albus put you through?"

Scorpius looked thoughtful, and then he spoke slowly. "It doesn't matter what Albus has done to me in the past. What matters is that he is in need, and I can help. He told me that he doesn't see what makes life worth living. I want to show him what _does _make life worth living; what makes living life amazing.

"He needs to be shown. He needs to be rescued from his depression before it's too late, and I can help."

Lily looked at Scorpius as if she was really seeing at him for the first time. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was impressed.

Zoë stared at Scorpius in complete surprise. She had never met anyone like this, someone who would do so much for a boy who, at best, strongly disliked him. It just didn't make sense.

Scorpius was staring at the wall straight ahead of him with a far off look in his eye. The expression on his face was set and determined. Zoë doubted that anything could change Scorpius' mind once he had decided on something.

He brought himself back to where he was with a shake of his head. "So how did you guys come to be in the country?"

"I care about my brother, so I came to look for him." Lily shrugged.

"What about you?" Scorpius turned to Zoë.

"I got dragged into this by Lily." She jerked her jaw in Lily's direction. "She wanted company, but she thought Hugo was too young."

"Who is Hugo?" Asked Scorpius confused.

"He's my cousin. Rose Weasley's younger brother." Lily answered his question.

"Oh, I know Rose Weasley, the know-it-all snob."

Lily snorted in suppressed laughter. "Even though she's my own cousin, I have to admit, that is true."

"How did you guys know to come to Chicago though?"

"Actually, I found out about Albus being gone because Flitwick came and sought me out. He told me that Albus had run off and taken you with him. He said he thought I should go, and take a friend, because both you and Albus would need my help before the end." She shrugged, "I wasn't sure what he meant by that."

"Yeah Flitwick says some rather obscure things sometimes. The dude is ancient too… I think he's half bonkers by this time. Well with any luck by tomorrow morning we'll be back in England with Albus."

"Hopefully, but since he ran away of his own accord in the first place, what's to say he'll come back with us?" Zoë piped in.

"I don't think he will, unless he changes suddenly, but I don't think that'll happen without some sort of experience for him. I don't know how to go about this, but somehow I will show him what makes life worthwhile!" Scorpius slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.

Zoë and Lily's eyes simultaneously went wide and then locked across the room. Lily raised one shoulder in a half shrug.

"Well, yeah, um… good luck with that." Lily threw him a side-long glance.

Scorpius' gray eyes flashed. "Don't doubt me. Watch me do it—I'll prove to the world I am as good as anyone!"

"I never said you weren't, but this isn't exactly an easy undertaking." Lily crossed her arms defiantly.

"Just wait…" Scorpius growled at Lily as he relaxed back into his seat.

Zoë spoke up, trying to break the tension by speaking into the sudden awkward silence. "So…what's your favorite color?"


	9. Pandemonium

Author's Note:

I just continue to ask that you leave reviews if you are interested in the story at all. Just tell me your thoughts on what's going on. Criticism is welcomed, and encouraged.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 8: Pandemonium

Ginny was suddenly struck with an epiphany as she sat working in her office. She needed to ask Natalie if she knew which book Zabini had stolen, and if she did, why he might have stolen that particular one.

A few minutes later, Ginny's head appeared, floating in the marble fireplace of the main sitting room at Malfoy manor. Natalie sat reclining on the coach, reading the Daily Prophet.

She looked up as Ginny's head appeared. "Why hello again, Ginevra. To what do I owe the pleasure of a second visit?"

"I beg your pardon for intruding again, Natalie."

"Not at all. What can I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you could pinpoint which book it was that Zabini stole from you?"

"Yes, of course. In fact I've already done just that. It's called _The Founders: Before and After Hogwarts_."

"Do you know any reason why they might want that particular book? Is there highly valued information in there or something?" _Come to think of it,_ thought Ginny, _all the other stolen books were also about the Founders or their history._

"No, I'm sorry. But Draco probably could."

"Okay. Thank you for your time, Natalie."

"Sure."

Ginny pulled back out of the fireplace, and into her office. Rising to her feet she went to her desk and hastily wrote a note to Draco, asking him to contact her as soon as possible. She then went over to where Harry's faithful old owl, Hedwig, sat on her perch, and tied the note to her leg. Going to the window, she slid it open, and watched as Hedwig soared into the distance, becoming a smaller and smaller dot on the horizon.

***

A knock sounded on the door. Lily rose and opened it, letting Hermione into the room. "Oh good, you're here too, Scorpius. It's time to head over to the fight club—we want to make sure we don't miss Albus."

Scorpius and Zoë stood up simultaneously. "Good, let's get going then," said Scorpius excitedly. It was roughly 4:00 P.M., and after hanging out in the girl's room, not doing much but talking for the last couple of hours, Scorpius was ready to head out.

Five minutes later, Scorpius, Draco, Zoë, Lily, Hermione, and Bill all stood in the lobby, ready to go.

They headed out single file, with Draco leading the way. No one felt much like talking. They arrived at the fight club about fifteen minutes later, though there was nothing really special to mark the spot, seeing as the door would only materialize if you had the password.

The wall of the fight club was relatively short, being only about twelve feet tall. Draco suggested they sit on the roof and wait. Giving each other helpful boosts when they were needed, one by one they each managed to scramble up.

The roof was flat and empty except for a large water tank. The roof was enclosed on all sides by a three foot wall, or ledge, to prevent people from just walking off by accident.

Draco paced the roof impatiently, waiting for the time to pass. Hermione sat on the ledge by herself, lost deep in thought, while Bill, Lily, Zoë, and Scorpius sat side by side, with their feet dangling over the edge.

The sun slowly moved down towards the horizon as they sat and waited for Albus to show up. Zoë turned and looked at Scorpius. The setting sun lit his blonde hair to a fiery-gold halo that circled his head. His face was thoughtful and he was deep in thought.

As he stared at the sun sinking towards the earth, he looked lonely, like Zoë felt. Zoë wondered if Scorpius could be the friend she ached so badly to have, but she was also scared she would get hurt if she opened up to someone.

Scorpius turned his head and looked at her. Zoë immediately blushed and looked away, realizing she had been staring at him.

The young wizard looked at her curiously. She seemed like she wanted a friend, yet she seemed to cut herself off from other people's attempts at friendship.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Zoë looked up in surprise as he spoke.

"I guess…"

"Why did you agree to come along with Red?" Scorpius indicated Lily.

"Albus is my second cousin—he's related to me, and Lily asked me to come."

"Oh come on, I know neither of those things are the reason you're here. Tell me the truth."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She pointedly looked away from him.

"Don't give me that junk. Come on, what's the real reason?"

"You just found out I existed earlier today. How can you say why I would or wouldn't do something?" Zoë fired at him in anger.

Scorpius was slightly taken aback, and a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry, you're right. I don't know you well enough. I guess it's just that what little I've gotten to know you today didn't seem to fit with those reasons."

Zoë's anger vanished like a candle suddenly going out. It was her turn to look slightly embarrassed. "You're right though, those weren't the real reasons I came."

Scorpius quickly jumped in, "wait, you don't have to tell me. It's none of my business."

"No," Zoë spoke hastily, "It's no big deal really, I'll tell you." She turned and looked at the sun that was now very close to the horizon. "The real reason I came is frighteningly close to Albus'. I wanted to get away from Hogwarts." Surprisingly enough, Scorpius did not seem to find this piece of information that enlightening.

"With all that you said earlier, I'm not really surprised that you would want to get away from Hogwarts."

Zoë continued on, "You already know that I'm not happy being a witch. I hate going to Hogwarts every year, but my parents always make me. When Lily asked for my help, I saw it as a chance to get away from Hogwarts for a day or two. I saw it as an escape from that horrible repetition of my every day life at school."

"Yeah, like I said before, it doesn't really surprise me that you'd want to get away. What I don't understand is why you don't like going to Hogwarts in the first place; why you don't like being a witch."

Zoë sighed, "Well, I grew up not knowing about the wizarding world. I was a Muggle, and I was perfectly happy being a Muggle. When I found out about wizards, well, honestly, I thought it was rather abnormal. No mere human should be able to do what we can do."

Scorpius shrugged, "but we aren't abnormal, we're just, different. As for no mere human being able to do what we can do, I've never been able to think of a solid answer for that. I just assume that we're given these abilities so we can choose to use them for evil, or for good."

"I've never really thought about it like that…but that isn't the only reason I'm not happy about being a witch. Before I found out I was a witch, I was home schooled. I was use to seeing my family all the time. Once I went to Hogwarts, I haven't been able to see them at all except for holidays. That's been the toughest thing on me."

"I'm sorry about that; there isn't much anyone can do about that problem."

The sun was more than halfway concealed by the horizon now, and the sky was slowly getting darker and darker.

"Aunt 'Mione?" Lily's voice broke the silence that had fallen.

"Yes Lily?" asked Hermione as she turned to face Lily, who had twisted so that she could look at Hermione.

"What's the plan once, and if, Albus shows up?"

"We convince him to come back to England."

"What if he won't be convinced?"

"I don't know then, I just don't know…"

The last bit of the sun suddenly vanished beneath the lip of the earth, leaving a darkened sky.

They waited in the renewed silence for another hour, the sky darkening further all the while. Suddenly, Bill spoke out in a low voice that was practically a whisper. "There he is."

Sure enough, walking down the road towards the fight club, and the wall where they sat, came Albus. His emerald eyes were alight with excitement, and a smile filled his features.

As he neared the alley wall, Hermione leapt from the top of the wall and landed lightly on her feet in front of Albus.

The smile instantly disappeared from Albus' face, and he took on a defensive stance. "What are you doing here Aunt 'Mione?" His voice was almost a growl in his throat.

"I've come to tell you to come back to England, Al."

He laughed bitterly. "Fat chance. Like I'm planning on going back anytime soon."

Zoë, Lily, Bill and Draco all landed lightly behind Hermione. Albus' eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed as he calculated what to do. He quickly drew his wand out.

"Why are there so many of you?" He asked angrily.

"Because there are lots of people that care about you Al." Lily stepped forwards anxiously as she spoke. "Al, please, come back with us."

"Get back Lily!" Albus waved his wand threateningly.

Lily's eyes widened, hurt. She stopped where she was.

"How did you guys manage to find me?!"

Scorpius chose this moment to reveal himself. He leapt down and stepped forward, placing himself in front of the others. "With my help."

Albus eyes sparked. "After I let you go without hurting you! Blimey, you punk…"

"Potter, come back, let us show you what makes life worth living. You just need help, and we can help you."

"No one, least of all you, can help me!"

Albus strode forward angrily, throwing Scorpius, and then Lily, out of his way. He tapped the bricks in the wall, revealing the wooden door. He hastily muttered the password and the door swung inward.

He turned and looked angrily at them. "I won't come back, not now, and hopefully not ever. Don't any of you try to come after me again!" He slammed the door in their faces.

Outside, Scorpius pounded his fist angrily on the door. "Let us in right now! This is an emergency! Come on!" All his efforts were fruitless, and eventually he gave up.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Lily in despair.

"I don't know... Maybe we should have stopped him by force," said Hermione.

"No," Billy spoke up, "taking him back to England by force would have been no good. He'd just run away and escape again. The only way he'll go back and stay in England is if he decides to himself."

"There must be something we can do?" Lily was desperate.

"I don't know if there is." Hermione shook her head rather dolefully.

They turned and walked to the end of the street. Just as they turned on to the next street, they heard a loud explosion and a yell of pain that was abruptly cut off. They tore back around the corner just in time to see the end of a black robe whip through the doorway leading into the fight club.

Scorpius drew his wand and sprinted toward the fight club, with Lily hard on his heels. "Scorpius, wait! It's dangerous!" yelled Draco.

"Lily, come back!" Hermione half screamed.

Scorpius just kept running, but Lily hesitated and looked back, but then continued after Scorpius.

Hermione ran after Lily, followed by the rest of the group.

When they got to the entrance of the fight club they found Lily and Scorpius standing on the splintered remains of what had been the door. In front of them, lying on the floor of the narrow corridor was the large blonde man who had been the doorman. He was dead.

Zoe gasped in horror. Lily already had her hand over her mouth and was looking shook to the bone. Scorpius' jaw was clenched.

Draco made to grab for Scorpius' arm to hold him back, but Scorpius saw it coming and managed to jump further down the hall, avoiding his dad's attempts at restraining him.

"Scorpius, this is too dangerous for you, let me and Bill go in." Draco tried to reason with his son.

"No, sorry dad." Scorpius turned and started walking down the hall, slowly, to make as little noise as possible.

Draco came after him, followed by Bill, as Hermione tried to comfort Lily and Zoë.

Suddenly there was a large bang from further inside the fight club. There were screams, followed by more bangs.

Scorpius was almost knocked off his feet as some people came charging by, desperately trying to get out.

Scorpius, Draco and Bill fought against the wave of people and finally managed to get into the main room of the fight club.

As the two Malfoys and Bill broke out into the large room, they stared in amazement at what lay before them. Bodies surged left and right as tables overturned and explosions fired off all over the place. It was complete pandemonium.

***

After Albus had entered the fight club and left his family and the others standing outside, he had gone into the large room and found a seat. He had barely seated himself before he heard an explosion from the entrance to the room.

He turned, along with the rest of the people in the crowded room, to see a score of cloaked and hooded figures enter the room. They had stood in a semi-circle around the entrance with their backs facing it. Silence had fallen across the room. One of the figures had amplified his voice and yelled out: "Rasputin! We have finally tracked you down; we wish from you a magical object which you have possessed for many years. If you will not hand it over willingly, we will kill you and take it from your body!"

Albus had immediately looked around for who this Rasputin could be. A man had risen from his seat and leapt on top of a table. He was tall, probably about six feet and a half. He was a large man, not fat, just big all around, with heavy, thickset shoulders and muscular arms. His hair was dark and stood on end and went out in all directions. He had a large, thick black beard.

He wore a long dark trench coat, which was unbuttoned all the way, which was worn and patchy with many dark stains on it. Under the trench coat he wore plain black pants, but no shoes and no shirt, revealing rather massive feet, and leaving his muscular chest completely exposed.

A dark, mysterious aura seemed to emanate from him. The air around him seemed to shimmer with faint wisps of purple smoke. His eyes were a burning topaz that seemed to burn you to the core.

He had grinned manically. The grin, with the combination of his appearance, made him seem both terrifying and insane at the same time.

He had spoken out in a deep, gravelly voice, which boomed across the room with authority. "I don't know who you little men think you are, but there's no way I'm givin' anything at all to you."

Without bothering to reply, the dark figures had surged across the room towards Rasputin, firing off spells and curses which bounced around the room causing explosions. The crowded room had erupted into chaos. People charged left and right, screaming. Some headed for the exit; others pulled out their wands and immediately lunged toward the black figures, eager for a fight.

Albus threw himself to the floor, uttering an oath as a spell shot over his head. He pulled out his wand and looked around. He couldn't see much because of all the people running back and forth, but he managed to catch a glimpse of Draco, Scorpius and Bill by the entrance.

He turned his back on them and looked for Rasputin. He found him, laughing as he swung his wand back and forth, sending anyone who came near him, cloaked figure or not, flying up and away.

Albus leapt to the side as one such person came hurtling by and crashed into a table near him.

Albus watched as one of the cloaked figures managed to hit Rasputin with a spell. The large man went shooting backwards off the table and crashed into the wall so hard he actually broke into it, creating a silhouette of his body.

Rasputin looked somewhat surprised at this, though not exactly injured. He pulled himself out of the wall as the cloaked figure who'd sent him flying shot some more spells at him.

He was more careful this time and made sure to block the hexes. He then performed a transfiguration spell on two of the tables near him. One second they were mere tables, and the next they were large snarling wolves. They were almost as big as small horses, or ponies, with slick black fur and huge, sharp fangs.

The two wolves leapt high into the air, seeming to hang there for a seconds as they started to spin. They span faster and faster until they were whirling black tornadoes. One of the wolves plummeted toward the cloaked figure who had managed to hit Rasputin, the other one flew towards a cluster of five of the other cloaked men.

The man who had sent Rasputin into the wall sent the wolf that was spinning towards him flying to the side and into a table with a sweep of his wand. The spinning wolf ripped straight through the table and crashed into the floor. It stopped spinning but fell onto its side due to the blow it had taken to its head when it hit the floor.

Three of the five men dove to the side as the second wolf came spinning towards them, but the other two stood their ground and shot spells at the wolf. The spells were sent spinning away as they connected with the wolf. The men realized this and turned to run, but were too late. The wolf connected with both of them and tore their bodies to shreds with the mere speed of his spinning.

The wolf stopped spinning and landed on his feet as behind the two men he had torn through. He turned and launched himself after the remaining three men. This time he wasn't spinning, he was just chasing on all fours with his fangs ready to tear.

Rasputin was standing across from the man who had blasted him into the wall. They both stood with wands outstretched. "I deserve to see the face of the man I am dueling," growled Rasputin.

The man lifted his hands to his hood and threw it back, revealing his face. There stood Blaise Zabini.

"Any last words, pale face?" roared Rasputin.

"The only one of us who will be dying here is you!"

They both pulled their wands back and launched a spell zipping at their opponent's chest.


	10. Rasputin Overcome

Author's Note:

Sorry I realize this chapter is a good bit shorter than most of mine, but I liked the ending spot, so I decided to cut it short. Review please, you have no idea how much it motivates. Hope you like the action.

Peace.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 9: Rasputin Overcome

Albus looked down at the whirling figures of Rasputin and Blaise Zabini. People surged past him on all sides. All was chaos. Tables splintered and flew left and right. Small bits of plaster were being blasted off the walls and whipping around the room, threatening serious injury.

Albus' mind was working wildly, trying to decide what to do. He wasn't going to run like everyone else. He had come to America for some excitement, and here he was in the middle of it. He had no clue what was going on, or who Rasputin and the men fighting him were (since he was too far away to recognize Blaise), but he wasn't about to back down now.

There was something about Rasputin that drew Albus to him, and on top of that, he was grossly outnumbered by the other men. Albus made his decision and, wand in hand, leapt from tier to tier, heading towards the fighting figures of Rasputin and Blaise.

As he reached the bottom of the room, he froze in shock. He recognized Blaise. He stumbled back in confusion, unsure of what to do now. Why were people from the ministry all the way in America, looking for this man Rasputin?

Before Albus could gather his wits about him again, he was hit in the side by a jinx that knocked him flying off his feet and onto a table. The breath was knocked out of him on impact. He had managed to catch sight of his attacker as he flew off his feet; it was one of the cloaked men who were on Blaise's side.

As he landed flat on his back on the table, Albus' mind was already racing. After all, he was in Ravenclaw for a reason. If Blaise's men were attacking random bystanders who hadn't done anything, then they weren't from the ministry. It was against International Wizarding law to attack anybody while you were in another country. That probably meant that Blaise had his own motives and hopes for what he was doing, and Rasputin was most likely an innocent victim.

Albus pushed himself off of the table and to the side, just in time to dodge a spell that hit the spot where he had been a moment before, sending the table up in flames.

He aimed his wand at his attacker and, choosing a spell his father had taught him which he knew wasn't harmful, yelled, "_Levicorpus!_" The man was hoisted into the air by his ankle, his wand getting jerked out of his hand and falling to the floor.

Albus dove to the side as two more men appeared and fired hexes at him. He rolled and hid behind an overturned table. Raising his wand hand, he attempted to fire a spell over the top of the table, while staying protected. His wand hand was hit by a disarming spell, sending his wand spinning up a few tiers. He swore colorfully, and pulled his hand below the cover of the table.

The next instant the table was blasted to splinters, and he threw his arms up to protect his face. Unable to protect himself, he was hit by a spell, which threw him backwards. He slammed into the corner of the higher tier, making him gasp in pain and fall to his knees.

He stared in horror as his two attackers approached; he was unable to do anything. They raised their wand arms and sent jets of lights soaring through the air at him. He threw his arms out, as if they could protect him from the incoming spells.

Suddenly a streak of color crossed his vision, and a figure stood in front of him, protecting him from the spells. He recognized his sister Lily, her red hair whipping back and forth as she vigorously deflected a slew of incoming spells.

Lily was a talented witch, but she was only fourteen, and didn't stand a chance against these two full-grown men. One of the spells managed to slip past her defenses, hitting her in the shoulder. She let out a scream of pain and staggered to the side.

One of the men's hoods had fallen back in the fight, and his face split with triumph as he raised his wand, his mouth forming the words of the killing curse.

"NO!" yelled Albus, fear freezing him to his spot as he realized that his sister was going to die.

Scorpius came flying out of nowhere, crashing into the man who was about to kill Lily. The killing curse flew wide as Scorpius and the man crashed to the ground. Scorpius fought admirably, but the man was a lot stronger than him and pinned him to the floor. Scorpius struggled to get out from beneath him, but his efforts were fruitless. The man slammed his fist into Scorpius midsection again and again. Scorpius yelled in pain.

Gathering his strength, Scorpius managed to head butt the man, who reeled in surprise. "Albus, stop sitting there, do something!" yelled Scorpius as he threw himself back onto the man.

This brought Albus out of his stupor, and he rose to his feet. The second man was trying to find a way to help his friend without injuring him. He ran around the rolling figures of Scorpius and his robed companion, his wand pointed at them, but didn't do anything.

Albus rushed to the fallen form of his sister. Her face was pale with pain. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.

"I'll be okay, help Scorpius." She managed to gasp out. It was the first time Albus had heard her call Scorpius by his first name; he was surprised.

Grabbing his sister's wand, Albus rose to his feet. With one spell he sent the second man into a full body lock up. He turned his wand on the first man, who had once again succeeded in pinning Scorpius to the floor.

Before he had a chance to do anything, a third man from behind Albus, sent him screaming to the floor under the Cruciatus curse. Albus' body was racked with more pain than he had ever felt before in his life. He screamed and screamed; just wishing it would be over. He wished he could die; he hated his life anyway. He internally cursed the day he was born as he felt the pain sucking his life away from him.

Up at the top of the room, Zoë stood, wand in hand, unsure of what to do.

When Hermione had run into the Fight Club after Lily, Zoë had followed her, and watched as first Albus, then Lily and Scorpius, had leapt into the fray.

Draco, Bill, and Hermione had all rushed toward the fight, but been intercepted by several of the cloaked wizards and engaged in battles of their own.

Zoë stood frozen, terrified at the prospect of actually fighting. It was bad enough going to a wizarding school, but she had never intended to use what she learned for violence. The very thought made her tremble.

Finally, she leapt into action, unable to just sit there and watch the pain that was being inflicted on Albus, or watch Scorpius being pounded into the ground.

Zoë leapt from tier to tier as she hurried as fast as she could toward them. As she neared the struggling figures, she raised her wand and yelled "_Expelliarmus!_" The man who was torturing Albus had his wand ripped out of his hand. He turned in surprise towards Zoë.

Albus lay gasping and shuddering on the ground. Pulling himself to his feet, Albus staggered across the tiers to where his wand had flown. Throwing himself toward it, he twisted around and stunned the man who'd been torturing him before he a chance to reach Zoë.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" screamed Albus, his wand trained on the man who was still beating Scorpius into the floor. The man's body went as stiff as a board, and Scorpius pushed him to the side and struggled into a kneeling position.

Scorpius was looking rather the worse for wear. His nose was pouring blood and the area around his right eye was red and puffy. His eye was starting to swell shut, and he was moving stiffly, as if his body had taken quite a beating—which it had.

Zoë rushed over to him and put one of his arms around her shoulders, helping him to his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

"Well, I've been better." He groaned a little in pain. "But I'll be okay."

Albus had already pulled Lily to her feet. She seemed to have recovered for the most part, but she was still a little pale.

"What do we do now?" Zoë asked Albus anxiously.

The room seemed to be mostly empty. Rasputin was still fighting Blaise Zabini just twenty feet or so from them. Draco, Hermione and Bill were fiercely dueling seven robed men who had managed to work them back into a wall.

A few other robed men were spread throughout the room, fighting small skirmishes against the few people who had stayed behind Instead of fleeing.

"I'm going to help Rasputin," Albus answered after observing the room.

Lily gasped, "But Albus, Aunt 'Mione and Uncle Bill—"

"Can take care of themselves, they fought in the war against Voldemort. You don't think they can handle these few goons?" said Albus, interrupting her.

Just then, Blaise got around Rasputin's defenses. Blaise grinned in triumph as he swung his wand down in a slashing movement. Blood burst from Rasputin's chest, coming from a gash identical to the one Blaise had made in the air with his wand. With another quick flick of his wand, Blaise sent Rasputin's wand spinning out of his hand and away, leaving him completely defenseless.

Not pain, not fear, not even anger was written on Rasputin's face. Utter surprise was the only emotion visible. He staggered back into the wall behind him, and slowly slid to the floor, watching as the blood continued to pour from the wound in his chest, sliding across his body and onto the floor.

"Give me the weapon Rasputin," Blaise commanded him.

"I'll see you in Hades before I hand it over to the likes of you." Rasputin choked and then spit a mouthful of blood to the side. He turned back and gave Blaise a grin, showing teeth covered in blood.

"I never thought I'd be killed by someone like you. I have no clue how you managed to garner such power under your command, but giving you that weapon would practically be making you immortal," Rasputin growled out.

"Why don't you use it to escape right now?"

Rasputin laughed, and then choked and spluttered on blood. Once he had regained control of himself he turned back to Blaise. "I don't have it with me; it's safe, where you will never be able to find it."

Blaise's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "Tell me where it is Rasputin, or I will make you die a lot slower, and a lot more painfully."

Rasputin's eyebrows furrowed. "I can take anything you can throw at me."

"You fool; you'll see how much power I truly have." Blaise raised his wand and pointed it at Rasputin's blood covered chest, his lips started to move, forming words.

Suddenly, as if he had if he had somehow been summoned there by Blaise's last words, Albus appeared crouched on the floor right in front of Blaise.

Showing amazing flexibility, Albus pushed himself off the floor with all his might, bringing his foot up and catching the wizard right on the underside of his jaw.

Blaise's neck snapped backwards as he shot into the air. Albus leapt up again and brought his foot around in a sweeping roundhouse kick that hit Blaise in the side, right beneath his ribcage.

Blaise's body shot to the side and crashed onto a table.

Scorpius, who was moving as fast as his latest beating would allow him, shuffled over and knelt by Rasputin.

"I'm no healer, but I'll do whatever I can to help." Scorpius told Rasputin anxiously.

"I— need my wand." Rasped Rasputin, gesturing towards where his wand had landed.

"Zoë could you—?"

"Of course." Replied Zoë hastily as she turned and rushed to find the wand.

"Is there really any hope for him?" whispered Lily worriedly in Scorpius' ear.

"I don't know" was Scorpius' firm answer.


	11. Grease

Author's Note:

Thank you "Blue Flyhight" for your review, your thoughts are always insightful and helpful. Thank you "JessicaAmal" for your continual support and reviews ;) . Just a heads up, the monitor for the computer I was writing the next chapter on is not working at present. This may cause a slight delay in the posting of the next chapter.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 10: Grease

Albus stood with his wand at the ready as Blaise pulled himself off the table.

A slow grin spread across Blaise's face as he saw the teenage boy pointing his wand at him. "Albus Potter. How interesting. I'm not even going to bother asking you what you're doing in America, though my curiosity is indeed aroused."

"What is a Ministry of Magic official doing here, in America, while trying to get a magical object from someone and hurting innocents at the same time?" Albus asked forcefully.

"Some things are not for you to know, little Potter. If I was you, though, I'd not get in my way."

Albus forced a dead laugh from his throat, "No way. For all I know Rasputin is completely innocent."

"You don't know what you're getting into, Potter. Get out of my way." Blaise was getting rather angry.

"Not unless you show me your reasons for doing what you're doing, and I see that you have legitimate motives."

"Well there's no chance of that."

"Then I'm sorry, you're going to have go through me first."

Blaise sighed. "Well then, I've already fought one Potter in the past two days, and I won that fight, and I'm pretty sure I can win this one too."

Albus dropped his wand arm in surprise. Before he could do anything else, Blaise raised his wand and sent Albus blasting back into the wall.

Albus gasped in pain and dropped to his knees.

"You stupid, stupid boy. You have no clue what you're messing with," said Blaise, striding towards Albus.

"You have no idea what _you're_ messing with." Suddenly Albus was gone.

Blaise took a step back in surprise, and ran into Albus. "Wha—?"

Albus hit Blaise hard in the side of the head. Blaise staggered to the side in pain. Albus shot a spell into Blaise's back, and Blaise went flying a good twenty feet into the air.

Suddenly Albus was in the air too, even higher than Blaise, and right above him.

Albus sent himself blasting down onto Blaise's back with amazing power. They plummeted towards the ground at a blazing speed. Blaise's face twisted in fear as Albus grinned.

They crashed into the ground with a deafening bang and a massive cloud of debris.

Hermione turned as she heard the noise, but not seeing anything but a large cloud of debris she turned back to the battle she was already in.

Scorpius gasped, losing his balance as he felt the tremor from the crash vibrate through the ground, and toppled to floor. He gasped in pain as the impact caused further pain to his injuries.

Zoë was staring in disbelief. Lily called out for her brother in terrible anxiety.

The debris slowly cleared, revealing the form of Albus standing over a small crater in the floor.

As soon as Scorpius saw that Albus was okay he turned to Zoë. "Zoë, Rasputin's wand!"

She snapped out of her reverie. She sprinted the short distance to them and handed Rasputin his wand.

Slowly he started moving his wand back and forth over his injuries, whispering incantations as he did. Zoë and Scorpius watched anxiously, but Lily's eyes were trained on her brother.

Albus stood looking into the crater with narrowed eyes. Slowly something started to move among the debris in the hole, and Albus' eyes opened wide in sheer disbelief.

Albus watched in surprise as Blaise started to pull himself from the crater made by his own body. He was completely uninjured. The only thing about his appearance that had changed from a few moments before was that his robes were ripped and his hair was dusty and gray from debris. He still held his wand in his hand.

"Not bad Albus. Are you surprised I'm still talking?"

Albus just goggled at him.

"I'll take that as a yes, and now it's my turn." Blaise grinned widely.

With a swish of his wand he sent Albus somersaulting over backwards and slammed him onto his back.

Albus gasped in pain as his wand went sliding from his hand and across the floor. He watched it go helplessly.

"You will really wish you had listened to me before." Blaise flicked his wrist nonchalantly. There was a sickening crack and Albus screamed in pain. Albus' foot was sticking at a weird angle under him and there was a bulge at the place where it joined his leg.

Upon hearing her brother's scream of pain, Lily leapt to her feet. She drew her wand and charged towards Blaise.

"Lily, NO!" Yelled Scorpius. He tried to lunge to his feet, but gasped in pain and collapsed back against the wall.

"_Stupefy!_" Lily screamed desperately.

Even though Blaise's back was to her he whipped around at a stunning speed and easily blocked the spell.

"_Suffuco!_" hissed Blaise as he jabbed his wand in her direction.

Lily rose slowly into the air. She made a choking sound and grabbed at her throat, gasping for air.

Scorpius dug into his pocket and pulled out his wand. "_Protego!_" he yelled. A shield appeared between Lily and Blaise as he cast the spell. Lily immediately dropped to the ground and collapsed, panting for breath.

Blaise made an annoyed sound and with a flick of his wand sent Scorpius smacking back into the wall, hard.

The air went out of Scorpius with a whooshing sound. Having no air in his lungs, he could only gasp as the pain shot through his already injured body.

Zoë rushed forwards. "Leave him alone!" she screamed.

Blaise made a choking noise. "How many of you runts are there? _Stupefy!_" Zoë fell prostrate on the floor. "Now back to where I let off," Blaise turned back to the pale and sweaty form of Albus.

Albus's eyes were wide and panicked. He was clearly in a severe amount of pain, though he no longer made any sound. He stared up as Blaise walked towards him. He set his lips in a hard line, as if he was determined to continue to make no sound no matter what Blaise did to him.

"You know, it's kind of a pity to kill you. You have talent, a lot of it. Maybe I'll let you go… after I make you experience a bit more pain, of course." Blaise raised his wand.

"Leave him alone Blaise."

Blaise turned slowly to see who was talking to him. "What now? How many idiots do I have to bring down? And who would call me by my first name?"

About twenty feet from Blaise, standing a few tiers up, stood Grease. His black hair was plastered to his pale face with sweat. His left forearm was covered in blood and he cradled it close to his body. In his right hand was his wand.

At first confusion flitted across Blaise's face, and then recognition. "John? Is that you?"

"I no longer go by the name of John, big brother, I'm known as Grease these days."

Blaise snorted. "What, were you too ashamed of anything that tied you back to us? Did you spit on the name of John, just like you spit on the name of Zabini, and spit on your family—your own flesh and blood?"

Grease stiffened. "I was driven out by our father, you know that."

"Just because you wouldn't obey him; just because you wouldn't listen to his rules."

"He was insane, you know that!"

Blaise growled in anger. "I'm not here to argue about this with you. Now turn around and leave, little brother—or things will get nasty."

"No, you want to hurt them. You're going to have to hurt me first."

Blaise hesitated; he looked reluctant to raise his wand. "Won't you just turn and walk away?"

Grease's answer was firm. "No, I don't know what you've gotten yourself into this time, but knowing you, it's nothing good."

"Know this little brother, I have no desire to hurt you, but you're forcing my hand." Both brothers raised their wands simultaneously.

"You're going to have to go through me as well," snarled Rasputin. He was standing shakily, his wand in hand. His wounds were sealed up, but he was weak from loss of blood.

"I'll take you both on," snarled Blaise.

Up near the top of the room, Hermione finally blasted away the last of her opponents. She turned and quickly helped finish off Draco and Bill's as well.

Hermione turned and scanned the room just in time to see Blaise engaging Rasputin and Grease. She gasped in panic as she saw Albus lying sprawled motionless in the middle of the floor.

"Merlin's beard, isn't that Blaise Zabini?" asked Draco in shock. "What is he doing here?"

Hermione didn't answer; she was already sprinting as fast as she could down the tiers towards Albus.

Draco lunged after her, followed by Bill.

Hermione completely ignored the roaring battle between the Zabini brothers and Rasputin. She rushed straight to Albus, dropping to her knees beside him.

"Albus, where are you hurt?" she asked, her voice full of anxiety.

"Just my ankle. I'm pretty sure it's broken," Albus managed to gasp out. He was clearly still in a lot of pain.

Draco ran past her to his son. "Scorpius, are you okay?"

"I've seen better."

"Where are your injuries?"

"Everywhere,"

Draco bit his lip, thinking. "Then I probably can't heal all of them right now. We need to get out of here. I assume you can't walk?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Not fast anyways."

"Will it be too painful if I carry you?"

"There isn't really another option. I'll survive."

Draco picked him up as gently as he could, but there was an inevitable gasp of pain from Scorpius as Draco's arms hit his injuries.

"I'm going to get you out of here and then come back to help Zabini."

"No, dad. Zabini is the bad guy here."

"What do you mean?"

"He's the one who did this all to us."

Draco looked at his son in confusion but didn't argue back.

After seeing that Hermione was taking care of Albus, Bill rushed to Lily who had managed to drag herself over the side and was leaning against the wall. "Lily, are you hurt? Can you walk?"

"I'm okay, I can walk," she answered quickly.

"Then stay here, I'm going to get Zoë." Bill rushed over and scooped up the limp form of Zoë as if she weighed nothing, and hurried back to Lily. "Come on let's go."

Just then Hermione and Albus came running up.

"Albus is your ankle okay?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, Aunt Hermione fixed it in a jiffy."

"Let's get out of here," suggested Hermione.

"No, we need to help Grease and Rasputin; Zabini will kill them if we don't!" Albus said firmly.

Hermione looked at him, bewildered. "But I thought Zabini worked for the Ministry?"

"Well he's not here on their business; we need to stop him."

"Albus, I'm not sure…"

"Please, Aunt 'Mione, I know I haven't really given anyone a reason to trust me lately, but please, take my word on it."

Hermione looked at him for a moment, calculating. She made a mental decision to trust him. "Fine," Hermione turned around and shot a spell at Blaise without hesitating. Blaise was turned away from them, concentrating on Grease and Rasputin. He didn't see it coming. He was sent flying up and across the room, crashing into a wall at the very top near the entrance. "He's dealt with, let's go. No arguing Albus, if you want to leave later I'll let you, but for now, come with us."

Albus opened his mouth as if to protest, but closed it again without saying anything.

Hermione started toward the exit, followed by Albus, Lily, Bill, with the limp form of Zoë in his arms, and Draco carrying Scorpius.

"Wait, I have a better and safer way out." It was Grease who was talking.

Hermione stopped and turned. "Where is it?"

"It's a secret passageway that will take you a good two blocks from here, underground. The entrance is under a floor panel behind the bar. It shouldn't be hard to find."

"Can't you show it to us?"

"No. Look, Blaise is already starting to recover, and so are his minions. I'll hold them off while you go. Don't worry about me, just go."

Hermione hesitated, but then turned and started to run for the bar. Her cohort followed her, and Rasputin followed theml. He seemed to have recovered slightly, and was standing more firmly on his feet, those he was still looking pale.

They found the panel with ease, and one by one started dropping down into the passageway. The last two still standing above the passage were Rasputin and Hermione. Hermione looked questioningly at Rasputin, but didn't say anything.

She turned and watched the lone figure of Grease, standing in the center of the room as Blaise and his lackeys surged towards him.

"Shouldn't we help him?" asked Hermione of the air.

"No, he knows the power of his brother and he knows that there are too many for us. He also knows that with the injured we have they would catch us easily. Rather than risking all of us dying, he is sacrificing himself for us to escape."

Rasputin turned and lowered himself into the passage.

Reluctantly Hermione turned and followed. The last thing she saw before she lowered herself down was a blinding blue light that filled the room.

She slid the panel back into place and set a quick series of strong sealing charms. She then turned, and followed Rasputin into the darkness.


	12. A Weapon Revealed

Author's Note:

I am SO sorry it took so incredibly long to get this chapter up. There is no excuse and I'm sorry, I'm just glad to finally be posting it. I plan to go back to posting weekly on Sundays for those who are interested. Happy Easter, Christ has risen!

Peace,

~ThaniMag

Chapter 11: A Weapon Revealed

"I'll lead," Hermione heard Draco's voice from ahead in the darkness. "_Lumos!_" light blossomed from the tip of Draco's wand, illuminating the passageway.

There was nothing much to see. The little group of wizards and witches stood in a narrow rectangular passageway. The passage wasn't wide enough for Hermione to stretch out her arms on either side. The ceiling was a foot above her head, low enough to make Rasputin have to bend over. The passage was made out of plain cement. The path went forward about fifty feet and then took a sharp turn to the left, spinning out of sight.

Draco pushed past Albus and Lily and strode into the lead. The rest of the group followed.

Hermione stared at the stooped form of Rasputin ahead of her with burning curiosity. She had so many questions for him.

"Rasputin?" she asked warily of the large man. He grunted to show that he was listening, but kept walking forwards.

"Do you mind explaining what in the world that was in there?"

His deep voice boomed back at her from around his body. It echoed many times off the close walls before fading into silence. "No questions until we're safely away from here."

The group walked the rest of the way in silence. They followed the twists and turns of the tunnel, getting closer and closer to the exit.

Finally, after half an hour of steady walking, they reached a dead end. "Hm…What do we do now?" asked Draco, stumped.

There had been no forks in the path, no other routes to take, they had simply followed the one there was. The path had taken a sharp turn to the left and just ended in a blank wall of cement that was identical to the rest of the passage.

"Wow, and you're an Auror? This is kind of pathetic; sorry but it is." Albus was completely unimpressed. He was leaning against the wall of the passageway with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Don't talk so disrespectfully to your elders," growled Scorpius. He too was leaning against the wall of the passageway, but for a different reason. Albus just looked bored, while Scorpius was using it as support; he was still suffering from his many injuries.

"Oh relax Malfoy, I'm not attacking anybody's reputation or anything." Albus strode forward and jumped, pushing the ceiling up and out.

A patch of moonlight poured in through the spot where Albus had pushed the roof away. He turned and sent a smug look at Draco before turning and clambering out.

"I knew that was there of course..." muttered Draco to himself.

One by one they clambered out onto a sidewalk. Scorpius needed a bit of help climbing up, and Bill handed the limp form of Zoë up to Draco before climbing up himself. Finally Hermione pushed the square section of sidewalk back into its place, making the passageway completely invisible.

They stood in a narrow abandoned alley. Down at one end of the alley the occasional car could be seen driving by.

"What now?" wondered Lily out loud.

"Well, first I think we should treat Scorpius's injuries and revive Zoë," offered Draco. Zoë was revived in an instant and Draco treated his son's wounds while Lily filled Zoë in on all that had happened.

Hermione turned to Rasputin. "Now, for explanations."

Rasputin shook his head. "Let's talk back at my place. We can use Side-Along Apparition to get us all there."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Anyone have any objections?"

"You mean besides the fact that we don't know this man at all and who knows what he plans to do to us?" asked Draco, eyeing Rasputin warily.

"If he wanted to hurt us what's to stop him from doing it now?" Albus defended Rasputin.

"We're on our guard now, and ready for him," replied Draco matter-of-factly.

"We weren't prepared in the tunnel—he could have gotten us then. Plus he fought with Grease to defend us in the night club."

"That's true I guess…" Draco acknowledged Albus's point. Through the whole exchange Rasputin just stood and watched them with mild amusement.

"Well, if it's decided that I can be trusted, at least for now, I would like to depart. Who knows how far behind our pursuers are; they may have found the passageway."

"Okay, let's go," said Draco, still looking a little warily at Rasputin.

"Everyone grab each other's elbows so that we're all touching." There was a short pause while everyone followed Rasputin's orders. "Okay, now I'm going to Apparate. Just hang on and relax."

The next instant they were standing in a large dining room. A long oak table filled the length of the room. Big oak chairs of the same style as the table ran along it. Large tapestries adorned three of the walls and the fourth held a large mirror that reflected the faces of the group of wizards and witches.

Rasputin's large shoulders suddenly sagged, and he grabbed hold of one of the large oak chairs to support him.

"Are you okay?" Hermione stepped forward anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rasputin stood to his full height again but his dark face was slightly paler, and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. "Come with me."

Rasputin left the dining room and took them down a long carpeted hall. Here, too, the walls held many tapestries. There were tapestries of dazzling balls and parties with gentlemen and ladies in grand clothing, there were tapestries of agreements being made with great and powerful leaders, there were tapestries of great battles and wars with all manners of terrifying magical creatures, and tapestries of anything you could imagine.

The teenagers stared in awe at the great pictures as they followed Rasputin.

They passed many closed doors as they walked down the long hall, hiding who knew what type of secrets behind them.

Finally Rasputin stopped in front of a door and entered, followed by the rest of his companions.

It was a sitting room, or maybe a private library. A thick, plush green carpet covered the floor from wall to wall. Bookshelves lined three of the walls and part of a fourth. A great marble fireplace stood in the center of the fourth wall and one large window was set in the wall above the fireplace. Through the window could be seen large empty plains and in the far distance a range of mountains.

A large couch, three chairs that matched the carpet, and a couple of coffee tables also filled the room.

With a wave of his wand Rasputin summoned a few more chairs out of thin air so that there were places for everyone to sit. He also summoned a tray of food and drinks.

"Help yourself to refreshments as you would like them."

Albus threw himself onto the couch after grabbing a pumpkin juice and a pastry or two. Lily followed his example and sat next to him, followed by Zoë who sat next to her, and, to all their surprise, Scorpius who sat next to Zoë. It was a large couch though, so they all fit comfortably.

While some people were still grabbing snacks of food and drinks, Hermione asked curiously "Where exactly are we?"

"We're in the plains of Montana, a bit north of Billings."

Hermione's jaw dropped in surprise.

"I like the open, the cool air and the solitude."

"Then why were you in Chicago?"

"A person can only take so much solitude." Hermione just shrugged in response.

Once everyone settled down Hermione got straight to the point in her matter-of-fact way. "So what did Blaise Zabini want with you, Rasputin?"

"I've never met that man before in my life, though it's pretty obvious what he was after." He held out his arm, palm up, and suddenly there in his open hand appeared a glittering weapon. It was a deadly looking dagger. The blade was long for a knife and shone where the light caught it. The hilt was set with all sizes of emeralds that glittered with every turn of it in Rasputin's hand.

There was an intake of breath throughout the room. Albus' eyes hardened with desire. "What is that?" gasped Scorpius, "I mean, it can't be any ordinary sword."

Rasputin snorted. "This is no sword, the blade is far too short, but in answer to your question, no, it is far from an ordinary piece of steel. This dagger possesses a vast amount of power," answered Rasputin.

"Where did you come by this weapon?" asked Hermione curiously.

"It was given to me by my father, who got it from his father, who received it from the hands of Salazar Slytherin on his death bed."

The room was silent for several minutes as everyone stared in disbelief and shock at Rasputin.

"But—but—that's impossible! Salazar Slytherin lived one thousand years ago!" said Draco in shock.

"That he did, yet my family is no ordinary wizarding family. We are part of a special and powerful race of Warlocks. There aren't many of us on this earth, and not much is known about us. We have greater magical prowess than most wizards, and we live a lot longer, and by that I mean a LOT longer."

"How old are you then?" asked Scorpius with curiosity.

"Over three hundred years old," answered Rasputin.

"Wow, you're pretty agile for such an ancient man," said Scorpius in awe. Lily rolled her eyes.

"If you're part of such a powerful race of warlocks, then how did Blaise Zabini beat you in a duel?" asked Albus in doubt.

"I don't know. He's somehow managed to harness a strong power to his command—a dark power."

"And what of _that_ thing?" Albus pointed at the glittering object in Rasputin's hand," What powers does IT have? What can it do?"

"It is an implement of Slytherin's will. It is a thing of deception and guile, as you would expect of a tool of Salazar Slytherin's. It has many capabilities; I'll show you one such ability." There sat Rasputin one minute, the dagger laying in his open palm, and the next instant, Rasputin was nowhere to be seen. Another gasp filled the room.

Suddenly Rasputin appeared again, but now he was leaning on the mantle of the fireplace, a small smile on his face. "Invisibility is only one of its many powers."

"So why did Slytherin give this weapon to your family, why not to his heir?" asked Bill, itching with curiosity.

"My grandfather and Slytherin were closer than brothers; there was a . . . bond between them that was forged over many years and experiences together. Also, at the time of his death, Salazar did not trust his own son; they had their differences and had had a falling out."

There was a tapping at the window suddenly. Everyone turned to see a snowy white owl sitting on the windowsill and knocking her beak on the pane of glass again and again. "Hedwig!" cried Hermione, leaping from her seat and to the window. After opening the window, she took the letter that Hedwig proffered her.

Hermione read the name on the envelope and then turned to Draco. "It's for you!" she said in surprise.

Draco looked equally surprised as he took the letter and proceeded to read it.

Hedwig flew over from her perch on the windowsill and landed on Albus' shoulder. She then went on to nibble on one of his pastries. Albus let out a little yelp of pain as she missed the pastry and nipped his hand. "I swear this bird is so old it has gone half blind!" In anger he swatted at the owl. Indignantly, Hedwig dodged his hand and bit his ear.

Albus yowled in pain and made another furious swipe at the white bird. Hedwig dodged once more and then hooted and flew over to perch on Hermione's arm. Albus glared at Hedwig while rubbing his bleeding ear; Hedwig glared back. "That bird deserves to die," he said ruefully.

"Why, because you don't have manners?" asked Zoë sarcastically.

"Didn't you see it almost take my ear off?" said Albus looking sorry for himself.

Zoë snorted. "After you tried to hit her for no reason, yeah, and I'd hardly call a little scratch almost taking your ear off."

Albus stopped glaring at Hedwig and turned and started glaring at Zoë, who pointedly ignored him.

Draco looked up from his letter. "It's from Potter's wife, Ginevra; it says to contact her at her office as soon as I can. You don't happen to have any floo powder, do you Rasputin?"

Rasputin grunted and, with a wave of his wand, a pot of floo powder appeared on the ground at Draco's feet.

Rasputin went back to his seat to leave space for Draco to access the fireplace. A roaring fire burst into life with another wave of Rasputin's wand.

Grabbing a pinch of the floo powder, Draco threw it into the grate, calling out the address of Ginny's office, and sticking his head into the now green flames.

Ginny was sitting at her desk. She was in a worse state than Draco had ever seen her in before. Her hair, which was usually silky smooth, was sticking out in crazy disarray. Her eyes were hollowed out by the large black rings under them. Her face was pale from exhaustion.

"Hello Malfoy, I've been waiting for you," she said with relief in her voice as she watched Draco's head floating in the flames.

"I contacted you as soon as I got your owl."

"I'm surprised it took Hedwig so long to find you."

"Well, with all due respect, I'm in America, and today's been pretty crazy. We've been all over the place."

"Any luck with finding Scorpius?"

"Yes, in fact I'm with your daughter, your son, your sister-in-law, your brother-in-law and a girl, who, I'm to understand is your husband's cousin's daughter."

Ginny burst from the exhausted, slumped position she had been in. She was surprised to hear that Lily and Zoë were in America, but she was more concerned about her son. "Is Albus okay?"

"Yes, he's fine; we all are, though, like I said, it's been one heck of a day. There is something you should know: we ran into Blaise Zabini and a group of his men, and they attacked this man, Rasputin, who we're with right now. They seemed to be trying to get a magical weapon from him."

"Blaise Zabini is in America?" Ginny asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, why?"

"Less than a day ago Zabini and group of men attacked your manor and robbed a book from your library; that's actually why I was contacting you."

"They attacked my manor? Is Natalie all right?" asked Draco anxiously, his wife's safety the only thought in his mind.

"Yes. Thankfully the Aurors that I stationed there were able to send a signal to me and I went with reinforcements. Unfortunately, though, we weren't able to stop them from stealing one of your texts."

"Do you know which one it was, by any chance?"

"Yeah, I asked Natalie. The name was _The Founders: Before and After Hogwarts_. Do you know what he could possibly want with that book?"

Draco thought silently for a few minutes, his mind flipping through his memories. He had read every last text from, his extensive library, he just needed to place exactly which one it was. Finally his mind clicked.

"Of course! Everything makes so much more sense now!"

"What? Why? What information was in that book?"

"I think you should travel here quickly by floo; it would save us all some trouble explaining things multiple times."

"Good idea."

Draco drew back from the flames and rose to his feet in Rasputin's sitting room. "What did she say?" asked Hermione curiously. Draco quickly filled all of them in on what Ginny had told him.

"She's on her way here, and I'll explain what I can remember."

A few minutes later Ginny shot spinning out of the fireplace, and sprawled on the carpet amid a small pile of ashes. Hermione gave her a hand and helped her to her feet.

Ginny immediately turned, her eyes searching for only one person. She spied Albus sitting on the couch, and froze immediately. "Albus…" she whispered very faintly.

Albus locked eyes with her. "Yes mother?" he asked politely.

"Whatever it is that I've done, or failed to do as your mother, I'm so sorry…"

Albus immediately looked away, uncomfortable. "I would rather not talk about this right now mother."

Ginny gazed at her son with anxiety and longing. "Okay, whatever you want."

"Well…" began Draco hesitantly, looking at Ginny for confirmation to keep going. She nodded sadly without saying anything, "Well, it's time for a history lesson."


	13. A History Lesson

Chapter 12: A History Lesson

"Long ago, in the time of the Founders, there was an uprising. Many of the _other_ races grew discontented and banded together. The Centaurs, the Vampires, the Werewolves and the Giants all came together and waged a war against the Wizards.

"The Founders were the four most powerful wizards and witches of their age, so naturally the rest of England turned to them for leadership. Many long and gruesome battles had already been fought by the time the Founders realized they couldn't win the war without help from somewhere. They needed some boost, something that would give them the strength they needed to defeat the uprisers and stop them from ending English life as they knew it.

"They turned to the Dwarves for help. The Dwarves are a very reclusive race, keeping to themselves, hiding away in their caves, ever mining and forging. At first the Dwarves refused to help. After all, what did they have to gain? They had all they desired: wealth and mountains to continue mining."

Here Lily interrupted Draco. "Dwarves? I didn't know they really existed. I thought they were just a myth." She looked at Draco expectantly, with curious, deep brown eyes.

"They existed in the past--whether they still exist, nobody is sure. The Dwarves have not made an appearance since the Goblin Rebellions all those years ago. Even then their population seemed to have dwindled immensely from the days of old." Draco answered Lily with the patience learned through all the years of being an Auror.

"That's when Rowena Ravenclaw came up with a proposition the Dwarves were actually interested in," continued Draco. "She proposed that they forge four great weapons together."

This time it was Scorpius who couldn't help but interrupt. "Oh! I know, that dagger is one of those four great weapons!" He was practically bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement as he pointed at Slytherin's knife.

"Oh wow," Albus rolled his eyes. "You're a bloody genius Malfoy, and for Jove's sake would you stop hopping up and down like you're about to wet your pants. How old are you again?" Scorpius immediately flushed a little and sat still.

"Al, _don't_ use vulgar language like that," hissed Lily angrily.

"Chill sis. I'm not a kid."

Zoë snorted very audibly. "Keep telling yourself that Albus, because you sure don't act like you're anything else."

Albus started to say something angrily, but was cut off. "ENOUGH!" said Hermione with authority. "You are all going to be quiet, sit still, and listen to Draco Malfoy until he is finished. Or I'll turn you into a toad for the next week, understood?"

There was a quick succession of nods from the teenagers on the couch.

"Alright. Sorry about that Malfoy, please continue," said Hermione, turning to Draco.

"Not, a problem," replied Draco dryly. "Anyways…where was I? Ah yes, I remember. So Ravenclaw suggested to the Dwarves that they work together to create four very powerful weapons of war.

"You see, the Dwarves are, or were, the best smiths in the world. They had mastered the art of creating weapons of the very highest quality. Yet, Dwarves cannot perform magic, so there was one level of weaponry that was beyond their reach: the ability to create weapons that contained magical properties as well.

"Their greed drove them to agree, but the deal was that two of the four great weapons needed to be returned to them after the war was won.

"So the weapons were created. The Founders were there at the forging, and fused much of their magical power into the implements of war.

"The Founders then left the Dwarves, and, each wielding the mighty weapon specifically created for them, went out and _crushed_ the rebellion. Nothing seemed to be able to stand up to these new creations.

"Once the war was over, Helga Hufflepuff returned her mighty and powerful axe to the Dwarves, as was agreed. But Slytherin refused to return his weapon as the bargain required. The Dwarves were furious, and would not accept Godric and Rowena's attempts to give them one of their weapons instead; they wanted Salazar's. The Dwarves then locked themselves away in their caves and vowed to never make bargains with Humans again.

"Salazar's weapon, as Scorpius guessed earlier," Scorpius ears turned a bit pink, "is that dagger there." Draco indicated it. "Hufflepuff's weapon, as I just said, was an axe that remains with the Dwarves. Ravenclaw's was supposedly a bow with special arrows, but no one knows where it has been over all these years. And Godric Gryffindor's weapon, you shouldn't be surprised to hear, is the Gryffindor sword that can be pulled out of the sorting hat."

"But I thought the Gryffindor sword was made by the Goblins?" piped up Lily.

"That's what's commonly believed, and what all the Goblins claim, but no, it is in fact a Dwarven forged weapon."

"So that's what Blaise has been after…it all makes so much more sense now." Ginny looked up from muttering to herself. "Blaise wants these weapons so that no one can stand in his way and he can proceed to do whatever he wants."

Draco nodded. "That's what I think is most likely the case."

"We need to return to England right away. The Minister of Magic needs to hear about all of this," said Ginny, taking control. "Rasputin…"

Rasputin rose to his feet in response, but his body suddenly convulsed and he collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.

Hermione leapt out of her seat and knelt by Rasputin's suddenly still body. "Rasputin! Are you okay?"

He groaned and pulled himself into a sitting position. His whole body was drenched in sweat and his eyes were wide with pain.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me."

Despite his words, Hermione looked extremely worried. "You don't look like you're okay. I think we need to get you to a medic."

Rasputin opened his mouth to reply when there was a massive _kaboom_ from somewhere outside, and the whole house shook.

"What _was_ that?" exclaimed Bill in alarm.

Hermione's face had suddenly gone very, very pale. "I think that Zabini has found us."

"Impossible…I have wards up around my house that make it very hard for someone unwanted to find it. That's even supposing he could have tracked us through our Apparating here." Rasputin fervently tried to get his point across as if by doing so he would convince himself that they were safe.

The whole house shook again, more violently this time, and several books fell from their places on the bookshelves.

"You still sure about that?" asked Hermione strongly.

"I think I have sorely underestimated this Zabini one too many times." muttered Rasputin. "We need to get back to the dining room; it's the only place that you can Disapparate from in my house."

Rasputin, apparently having recovered his strength, pulled himself to his feet and rushed out of the room, followed by Hermione and her "crew".

Once they were back in the dining room with the big oak table, Rasputin issued orders. "You and you," he pointed at Hermione and Zoë, "stay behind for a few moments; the rest of you Disapparate immediately back to Chicago."

"No way," began Ginny, "we're not leaving without them."

"Ginny just _do_ it, we'll be fine, and we'll be right behind you." Hermione spoke in a hard tone.

Ginny looked too tired to argue. She linked arms with the rest of the group and Disapparated.

Hermione turned back to Rasputin as the whole house rocked a third time. The large mirror on the wall fell and shattered on the floor, sending glass skidding all across the floor. Zoë let out a little squeak of fear and surprise.

"We clearly don't have much time," began Rasputin hastily, "but I'm giving you Slytherin's dagger." He held out the weapon to Zoë, whose eyes grew simultaneously wide with Hermione's.

"What? But why, why me of all people? I'm just a young naïve girl."

"As you could probably tell," here he looked at Hermione, "I am dying. Zabini hit me with a very powerful curse. The knife must be passed along."

"But you don't have to die, come back with us now. We can get you to a healer." Hermione was pleading.

Rasputin shook his head firmly. "I have lived a long full life; I don't wish to live on. I have done everything I've wanted on this earth, and it's my time to die. Besides, if Zabini is not halted here, he will just chase after you again. I can stop him. I won't be able to defeat him, but I'll be able to give all of you a chance to escape."

Hermione felt as if it was a Déjà vu of Grease back at the Fight Club.

"Take the dagger Zoë," Rasputin's voice was urgent now. The house suddenly shook violently once more, and there was the sound of breaking glass from far off in the house.

"But how do you know I'm the right person to have such power at my command?" asked Zoë, seeming rather distraught.

"Wizards of my race of warlocks have been gifted with insight. We are generally not wrong when we get a feeling about someone. I _feel_ that you are the right person. You will not use the knife's power rashly, and you will be careful. Also, only a witch or wizard of the house of Slytherin can wield this weapon, and I can tell you are of Slytherin."

Rasputin took her hand and placed the dagger in her open palm. He then slowly curled her fingers around the hilt. He placed both of his large hands on her tiny shoulders, dwarfing her. He gazed into her eyes. "Don't be scared, you will know what to do when the time comes. You will learn how to master the power of the knife." He said the last sentence as a fact.

Now the sound of running footsteps could be heard in the hallway. "Go!" Yelled Rasputin, "And don't look back, go now!"

Hermione grabbed Zoë's arm and pulled her away from the door. Zoë heard Rasputin mutter something, and a large sword appeared in his hand. "_Incendio!_" spat Rasputin. Great flames shot up the weapon until the whole blade was consumed in fire.

Suddenly two cloaked figures appeared in the doorway. Before they had the chance to react, Rasputin had lunged towards them with a loud roar and struck both their heads from their shoulders with his flaming sword.

Rasputin looked back over his shoulder at them. "Why are you still here? Go!" He snarled the last word viciously.

Hermione spun on the spot, Disapparating and taking Zoë with her. The last thing Zoë saw as they spun away into darkness was Rasputin's blazing eyes staring deeply into hers.


	14. New Friends

Author's Note:

Sorry I didn't get a chapter up last week, but my internet was down for a few days so I couldn't email the chapter to my beta with enough time for her to edit it and get it back to me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the new chapter; I tried to get some more dialogue and character interaction in this one.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 13: New Friends

Zoë walked into her Charms class, took a look around, and threw herself into her normal seat in a corner at the far back of the room.

Zoë had returned from the incident in America just three days ago. Hermione had Disapparated them from Rasputin's house straight back to the International Floo Network where the others where waiting for them. Together they had traveled back to London. Bill had gone home, Hermione, Ginny, and Draco had rushed off to the Ministry, and the rest of them had been sent back to Hogwarts.

To Zoë's immense surprise Hermione had allowed her to keep Slytherin's dagger. She had thought it would be rushed off to the Ministry for inspection, or taken away simply because it had belonged to the Founders. But Hermione had simply tried some quick charms to see if there was any dark magic on it, and, satisfied, had returned it to her. When Zoë asked why she was being allowed to keep the weapon, Hermione had merely given her a vague answer and waved her away.

Zoë had wrapped the knife carefully in the folds of some cloth and stowed it in her trunk for safekeeping.

Zoë was startled out of her reverie when someone threw themselves into the seat next to her. No one had sat in that seat since the start of the year, so Zoë was rather taken aback. "Hallo, Zoë." Zoë glanced over at the cheerful, grinning face of Scorpius Malfoy.

"Good morning Malfoy," she replied politely, still shocked that someone had sat next to her.

"Malfoy?" Scorpius frowned. "Why don't you just call me Scorpius?"

Zoë hesitated. "Okay Scorpius."

Suddenly the seat in front of Zoë was occupied too, by blonde girl with long swinging plaits. The blonde girl twisted around in her seat and stuck out her hand towards Zoë. "Hallo Zoë, I'm Stephanie Bones. You can call me Stephanie, or Steph, or really whatever you wish." Stephanie's face split into a broad grin.

"Scorpius told me all about you," continued Stephanie, shooting a wink at Scorpius.

Scorpius looked a little sheepish, "Well more like all of what little I learned about you from our short, err… trip in America."

Zoë was somewhat overwhelmed by this sudden onslaught of two friendly smiling people. They seem determined to make up for not noticing her all these years.

"Nice to meet you, Stephanie," said Zoë with a rather shy smile, taking Stephanie's hand.

"You know, I think we're going to be good friends." Stephanie slipped Zoë a quick wink and laughed suddenly. It was a very mellifluous sound. Kind of like a stream bubbling through a brook, thought Zoë.

"Okay class, time to settle down." Luna's dreamy voice seemed to float through the classroom.

Stephanie threw Zoë another quick smile before turning around in her seat to face forward once more.

Luna began her lecture, and Zoë was given time to think about these two new friends of hers. They seemed quirky, but in a good way. They were also very friendly, and Zoë wasn't about to turn down friendship at this point; she was far too lonely.

She looked at Scorpius out of the corner of her eye, hoping he wouldn't notice. His blonde silky hair framed a happy, content face. His bright, honest blue eyes were fixed on Luna. Zoë wondered if there was an ounce of evil in him; he seemed so honest and good.

He caught her looking at him and flashed her an encouraging smile. She quickly looked down, blushing slightly.

The rest of the class flew by. Zoë kept her eyes fixed on Luna, determined not to get caught staring at Scorpius again.

The class ended. Lunch time, thought Zoë glumly as she rose to her feet and threw her bag over her shoulder.

All of a sudden her arm was interlocked with another person's, and she looked down to see Stephanie grinning up at her. "Not so fast. You're going to eat lunch with Scorpius and me."

Zoë quirked an eyebrow, "What if I said I've got prior engagements?"

"I'd say you were lying to us," said Scorpius with a smirk. "You can't get out of eating with us that easily."

"What if I want some introvert time?" asked Zoë, secretly hoping they would again see through her falsehood.

"From what Scorpius has told me you get plenty of introvert time already." Stephanie was not put off by Zoë's seeming attempts to get rid of them.

Zoë's face split into a rare smile. "You guys got me. I'd actually be glad to have lunch with you."

"Score!" cried Stephanie, throwing her fist in the air. It was such a child-like gesture that Zoë couldn't help but let out a slight laugh.

Scorpius grinned at her.

They walked to the Great Hall, talking and laughing together. Scorpius and Stephanie grabbed a couple of seats at the Hufflepuff house table. Zoë hesitated for a second, and then followed them.

The Hufflepuffs around them whispered among themselves and stared curiously at Zoë's presence in their midst. A fourth year, Edward Smith, rose to his feet to object. "_What_ is a Slytherin doing at _our _table?"

Zoë immediately looked down in embarrassment.

"I think she was about to eat with us." Scorpius stood up, glowering down at the younger boy. "If anybody has a problem with that, I'd be glad to give them a good dunking in the lake."

Edward immediately sat down in the face of the angry, bigger teenager.

"I don't want to cause trouble—" began Zoë hastily.

"No, there's no trouble at all," replied Scorpius, glaring at Edward as if daring the Irish wizard to challenge him.

"These are really good turkey sandwiches." said Stephanie, who was already halfway through her second.

Zoë gawked at her, "How did you—?"

"She's a fast eater, and she really likes her food." Scorpius was now holding a drumstick and looked as if nothing at all had happened to bother him.

Zoë slowly sat down and reached for one of the turkey sandwiches and some pumpkin juice.

"So why did Rasputin keep you and Potter's Aunt for a few extra minutes?" Scorpius looked at her curiously as he munched on a hunk of chicken.

Zoë took a bite out of her turkey sandwich, then looked at it as she chewed slowly. "He wanted to give me Slytherin's dagger."

The piece of half chewed chicken in Scorpius mouth fell into his lap as his jaw dropped down in astonishment. "No way…" He barely gasped the words.

Stephanie just stared at Zoë in disbelief.

Scorpius finally overcame his surprise. He hastily scooped the chicken off his lap and shoved it in his mouth, swallowing quickly. "But Potter's Aunt probably took it from you to take to the Ministry, right?"

Zoë shook her head. "That's what I'd thought she'd do, but no, she let me keep it, surprisingly."

"Wicked…" said Stephanie who had obviously been filled in on all that had happened in America.

"So you have it, here at school?" asked Scorpius excitedly.

"Yes," answered Zoë warily. She was eager to please her new friends since she was far to lonely to turn down friendship, but she was bit protective of Slytherin's weapon. "I'm keeping it safe in my dormitories though." She said the last word as if she knew what Scorpius was about to ask.

"Could I see it again, maybe touch it?"

"I don't think that would be such a good idea Scorpius. I think it would best just to leave it where it is."

"She's right, Scorpius. Such an object of power shouldn't be handled lightly." Stephanie chipped in, though she herself didn't seem too happy at her own advice. Zoë couldn't blame her though, who wouldn't want to see a weapon belonging to one of the Founders?

Scorpius looked a little disappointed, but seemed to see the wisdom in their words. "You guys are probably right. Whatever, I'll survive somehow." He smiled again, immediately brightening up. Zoë wondered if anything could keep him down for long.

Scorpius finished off his drumstick and hastily reached for another. Stephanie was now on her fifth turkey sandwich. Zoë couldn't believe the way she packed them down.

After they had finished eating, Scorpius rose to his feet. "Do you have a class now?"

"Nah, I'm free for a few hours," replied Zoë curiously.

"So are we. You want to take a walk by the lake with us?" asked Stephanie excitedly.

"Sure," replied Zoë, eager to spend some more time with them.

They left the Great Hall and proceeded through the Entrance Hall and out onto the grounds.

The three teenagers walked slowly towards the lake, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. "Isn't the sunshine amazing?" cried Stephanie, holding her arms out as if trying to catch some of it and hold it close to her.

Scorpius grinned at Stephanie. "Yep, it sure is beautiful." He turned to look at the lake, and something caught his attention. A figure was lying beside it. He had his arms behind his head, pillowing it as he rested there. He seemed to be gazing out across the lake.

"Well if it isn't Albus Potter," Scorpius said, pointing him out by the lakeside. Zoë and Stephanie followed his outstretched hand until they saw the dark haired boy.

"So, Scorpius? Who cares? Just let him be," said Stephanie, looking at Scorpius with a little bit of worry.

"No way," said Scorpius with a wicked grin. "I've got a plan."

Stephanie looked over at Zoë and rolled her eyes, "Oh boy. Well, I gotta see this."

***

Albus sighed as his eyes roamed the skies. He wasn't sure exactly why he was back at Hogwarts after having left only a few days before. He wasn't sure about anything anymore.

The headmaster had accepted him back immediately, completely forgiving him for all the terrible things he had said and done as he left. Nobody seemed actually mad at him for some reason, and this confused him. His mom just seemed disappointed in herself, and Scorpius's dad wasn't interested in him at all, just the wellbeing of Scorpius. Nobody seemed to really be paying attention to him or even to care that much.

Suddenly the air was completely knocked out of Albus as somebody landed on top of him. He managed to shove whoever it was off as he gasped for air.

He barely managed to suck in a breath before his assailant was back on him, trying to pin Albus beneath him.

Yelling in anger, Albus gave a hard push and sent his attacker flying over backward, rolling down the slight incline toward the lake.

Albus scrambled to his feet at the same time as his attacker. The silky blonde hair and daring blue eyes were all too familiar. "_Malfoy?_ For crying out loud—"

He was interrupted mid sentence as the blonde boy threw himself once more on Albus, bearing him to the ground.

They rolled around on the ground. Albus was using some colorful language as he attempted to get rid of the determined Scorpius.

Once more Albus shoved Scorpius off of him and staggered to his feet. Scorpius was up in an instant though, and gave Albus a good hard punch in the nose. Albus fell over backward, but managed to grab the front of Scorpius's robes before he did so. Together the two teenagers toppled into the lake.

They resurfaced at the same time. As Scorpius tried to shake the water out of his eyes, Albus put one hand on the back of Scorpius's neck to give him support, then kicked him as hard as he could in the stomach. Scorpius peeled over and disappeared beneath the water once more.

"Now THAT was satisfying," said Albus with distinct satisfaction. He looked up to see Zoë and Stephanie standing on the bank of the lake, watching intently. "Did you lot put him up to this?" he asked incredulously.

Zoë shook her head fervently in a decisive denial.

"No, he saw you lying there, and said he had some brilliant plan, so I just came to watch. Scorpius's brilliant plans are always a sight to see," said Stephanie, looking as if she was finding it hard not to laugh.

Scorpius finally resurfaced, spluttering and sending water flying in all directions.

"If this is one of your brilliant plans, God help the person who's around when you launch one of your ordinary plans, Malfoy." Albus said it, surprisingly, without rancor. "What do you think you were _doing_?"

Albus stood with his wet robes hanging heavily on his body. His black bangs swirled in curly, wet tendrils down his forehead. His eyes were blazing, bright specks in contrast with his dark locks.

Scorpius looked at Albus steadily. Piercing emerald eyes locked with honest sapphire ones. Scorpius shrugged innocently. "I was trying to connect with you. I thought having a good brawl might be your love language, you know what I mean? I was hoping we could maybe be friends."

Albus gawked at Scorpius. Zoë was surprised; she didn't think that someone as reserved and controlled as Albus would ever show his astonishment by gawking.

"Are you _completely_ bonkers?" Albus stared with utter disbelief at Scorpius. "I mean, I always knew you were a weird one, but this… this is just bizarre."

Scorpius looked confused. "I'm confused," said Scorpius.

"Please don't tell me you honestly thought my love language was a good brawl, and you tackled me just now to try and connect with me. You don't really think that, do you?"

"Um…yeah I do. Why would I have said it otherwise?"

Albus looked as if he thought the world was ending. He sighed with exasperation and slowly made his way to the bank of the lake, pushing through the water.

Scorpius struggled as fast as he could after Albus. He reached the shore, clambered up, and rushed at Albus. Albus heard him coming, stepped nimbly to the side, grabbed the back of his robes, swung him around, and threw him back into the lake.

Albus rolled his eyes at the sky. "When will this nonsense end?"

"Nice move," said Scorpius grudgingly from his kneeling position in the shallows.

"Why thank you, but of course _all_ my moves are nice; it just comes with being me."

Scorpius let out a growl as he made his way to get out of the lake. "That's right. Return someone's compliment by acting all smug and self-loving. That's a great way to make people compliment you more."

Albus looked complacently over his shoulder at Scorpius. "It doesn't matter how I act, people will compliment me anyway. I'm just that good. They can't _help_ but compliment me."

Scorpius spluttered angrily. "You're pretty good at pissing me off, aren't you?"

Albus waved his comment away. "I'm pretty good at pissing anyone off; don't flatter yourself."

By now Scorpius had clambered onto the bank. He stood, streams of water running off his robes in floods. He glared at Albus's back furiously.

Meanwhile, Albus had stopped walking, and was staring intently at the Forbidden Forest.

"Did you guys see that?" asked Albus as he peered at the looming forest which was only twenty feet away.

"I didn't see anything," Zoë brushed his question away.

"See what?" asked Stephanie curiously, following Albus's gaze.

"There it is again! Holy crap, I think it's a centaur!" With that Albus went sprinting toward the forest. Stephanie ran after him, followed by Zoë.

Scorpius grumbled something about how the girls shouldn't go chasing Albus because he might get ideas, but he grudgingly jogged after them, sending water flying in all directions.

Albus passed the outer ring of trees and rushed about fifteen feet into the forest before freezing in his tracks.

Two centaurs stood with their backs to them. One looked really old. He was completely white and silver, with a silver beard and gray hair. The second one was reddish brown and young looking, with no beard. The younger one wore a quiver of arrows and a bow slung onto his back.

Both centaurs were muttering to each other in a series of grunts and horse sounding noises. Albus guessed it must be the language that centaurs used with each other.

The centaurs' ears perked up as Stephanie, followed by Zoë and Scorpius, came skidding up behind Albus, sending leaves and twigs flying. The centaurs turned, saw the teenagers, and a look of alarm crossed the younger one's features. Anger was the only emotion on the older centaur's face.

The older centaur made a grunt to the younger centaur, and the two of them turned and bolted toward the center of the forest.

Albus —who being so bored with life took any chance at excitement— tore after the centaurs through the trees, he was followed by the other three teenagers. Branches clutched at his face, but he pushed them aside as he ran, not caring that they cut up his face and arms.

Albus was fast, but the centaurs were faster. He pushed himself to his fastest sprint. Chasing after a flying hoof he caught sight of between trees, tearing after a tail that whipped over a bush.

Left, right, left, right—the centaurs didn't seem to have a set direction, they didn't seem to care where they ended up as long as they lost their pursuers.

Albus didn't know how long he had been running when he finally lost all sight of the centaurs. He slowed to a gasping halt, leaned over and put his hands on his knees, breathing hard.

Suddenly something crashed into him from behind, sending him sprawling on his face. It seemed to be a body, and it was now lying on top of him. Albus's face was being mashed into the damp, muddy leaves of the forest floor.

"Oops, sorry Potter." The ever increasingly familiar voice of Scorpius came from above the black-haired wizard.

"Gerrroofoffmeeeyouuumoron!" came the muffled voice of Albus from out of the leaves.

"What did you say?" asked Scorpius of the back of Albus's head.

Albus struggled to get his head a little off the ground, clearing his mouth of leaves. "I said, GET OFF OF ME YOU MORON!"

Scorpius scrambled off of him and to his feet, looking slightly sheepish. "Sorry, you know I couldn't quite hear you."

Albus rose to his feet indignantly and spun to face Scorpius. "Well genius, maybe that was because you were SITTING HALF ON MY HEAD!" bellowed Albus none too kindly in Scorpius's face.

"Well sorry," said Scorpius as he brushed some leaves off his sleeves. "No need to yell so loudly."

Albus rolled his eyes to the heavens and turned to spit some grit out of his mouth. After he'd finished clearing his teeth of dirt, Albus looked around. "Where are we?"

"In the Forbidden Forest," said Scorpius confidently.

"I can't get over how brilliant you are, Scorpius," said Albus scathingly.

Scorpius's blue eyes flared angrily. "I was just answering your question."

"You weren't helping the situation at all."

"Sorry. Geez, it seems like that's the only word I say anymore."

Albus's gaze rove from left to right, up and down, surveying their surroundings. It was dark on the forest floor. The trees surrounded them on all sides and towered above them, their canopies shutting out almost all the sunlight that fought to trickle down to where the two boys stood. Albus couldn't see anything between the trees on either sides, except more trees, and more darkness.

"Well this is just great…Where are Zoë and Stephanie?" Albus asked of sore-looking Scorpius.

"I don't know. I think they fell behind near the beginning of the chase. They couldn't keep up with us."

"Well I can't say I'm surprised. Honestly, I'm astonished you kept up with me. I guess you've learned how to use those long legs to their fullest potential," said Albus, looking Scorpius up and down. "There aren't many people who could keep up with me for a run like that."

"Thanks…I guess," said Scorpius, looking as if an unexpected present had dropped from the sky and landed in his lap and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

"So, what do we do now?" Albus asked the trees.

Scorpius took it upon himself to answer. "I don't know. I just got caught up in the excitement of things and was following you."

Albus turned to look at the blonde boy. "You don't have to respond to everything I say. You know there is such a thing as a Rhetorical question—I don't know if you've ever heard of one of those, though."

Scorpius turned a little red, but didn't respond.

"Well anyway, the answer is I don't know, 'cause I'm completely and hopelessly lost," said Albus cheerily as he drew his wand and set off into the trees.


	15. Sairon

Author's Note:

Sorry got this one up a few days late, but we were on vacation for the weekend, so there was nothing I could do about it. Anyways, I try to mix in good dialogue and interaction with some action in this chapter, I hope you like it.

Please continue to review!

ThaniMag

Chapter 14: Sairon

Albus walked through the dimly lit forest. He pushed branches out of the way with his wand, peering around for clues to the way out.

Scorpius followed behind him, kicking stray twigs left and right as it pleased him. "How far do you think we are from getting out of here?" asked Scorpius of Albus's back.

"Not too far, the only question is: are we heading out of the forest, or deeper in?"

"And if it turns out we're heading in towards the center, what happens?"

"We most likely wander for hours, lost, until we drop from dehydration and die of starvation. At that point hundreds of little, crawling, nasty creatures come out of the trees and up from the ground and pluck the flesh from our bones," answered Albus quite cheerily as he continued walking.

Scorpius stopped in his tracks. "So how do you know we're heading out of here and in the right direction?"

"I don't. I'm just heading in a random direction," said Albus, continuing to walk forwards.

Scorpius quickly broke into a jog to catch up to Albus. "Shouldn't we stop, and try to make an educated guess or something about the way out? Instead of just walking randomly, I mean."

Albus reeled around suddenly and Scorpius almost ran into him. "Okay," said Albus "make your _educated guess_, Malfoy." Albus crossed his arms and tapped his foot, watching Scorpius intently.

Scorpius looked around. Nothing but identical trees in all directions, reaching to the skies and towering above them. There was absolutely nothing to distinguish one direction from another.

Scorpius blushed a little and looked down. "Okay, I guess you're right. There doesn't seem to be anything else we can do."

Albus nodded in affirmation, then turned and started his determined march once more. Scorpius followed in his wake.

"Well, since we don't have anything better to do to pass the time, want to have a meaningful conversation?" asked Scorpius as he moved up to walk by Albus's side.

Albus snorted. "I don't think 'Malfoy' and 'meaningful conversation' can go in the same sentence. You're not the brightest star in the galaxy, Malfoy. I'm sorry, but it's just a fact." Then, as if it was an afterthought, he added: "Scratch that, I'm not sorry, it's just the truth."

Scorpius's face flushed with anger. "And sometimes people know the truth, and don't need you to shove it down their throats. There is such a thing as compassion and sparing people unneeded ruthlessness. It's not like I'm stupid, but I know and accept that I'm not as smart as you."

Albus's gazed flicked lazily over to Scorpius. "I don't believe in any type of lying, or refusal to acknowledge the truth. There is enough terrible communication between people without dodging facts. I think people need to be honest with each other one hundred percent of the time. No lies, no looking the other way."

Scorpius cocked his head to the side, thinking about what Albus had said. "I guess that makes some sense…"

"Some sense? It makes perfect sense. It's the only thing that makes any sense in this crazy world."

"Well, I don't think it makes sense all the time. There are always unique situations that require special responses." Scorpius's blue eyes looked thoughtful.

"Well… maybe," admitted Albus grudgingly. "I still think though—from personal experience— that it's better to be completely honest all the time."

"Well I can respect your opinion, especially if it's based on your personal experiences, even if I disagree."

"I was wrong," said Albus, sounding surprised. "I didn't think you were capable of the amount of thought it took for a meaningful conversation, and look, here we are having a half decent one."

Scorpius gaped at him. It was the closest thing to a compliment Albus had ever said to Scorpius. "Wow, this is a historical day: Potter admitted he was wrong about something."

Albus looked slightly affronted. "Of course I'm wrong sometimes. Granted, it's about as often as it rains cows and the moon implodes, but still, that _is_ sometimes."

Scorpius shook his head in disbelief. "Your head couldn't get any bigger; you can barely get it off the ground as it is."

"Bigger head, more room for a bigger brain inside the head," pointed out Albus. Scorpius sighed in annoyance, but didn't make a return comment.

They walked along in silence for awhile. The endless trees passed, nothing marked whether or not they were making progress toward their goal of escaping the forest. The already dim light slowly started to recede even further. The afternoon was turning to late evening.

"Albus," began Scorpius, not looking at the other boy. "Why do you seem to hate life so much?"

"I haven't found anything that makes life worth living. Without a drive, I'm lost, confused. I don't even see why we're here on this planet." Albus's answer was so quiet that Scorpius had to lean his head closer to hear him fully.

"Friendship, relationships, being able to discuss things, spending time together, doing fun activities, loving each other…that makes life worth living: other people." Scorpius spoke earnestly, trying to help Albus out.

Albus shook his head slowly. "Not in my experience. Maybe I've just had tough luck with people, I don't know, but in no way would I consider that list to be worth living for. Don't even bother Malfoy. I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work. This isn't something you can just snap me out of. I don't want to hear anything more on the topic." The tone of Albus's voice told Scorpius that no more discussion on the subject would be allowed. Scorpius let out a deep breath in disappointment, but dropped the conversation.

It was now quite dark, and very difficult to see anything. "_Lumos!_" muttered Albus, illuminating a broad area around them. Scorpius was looking at the ground in deep thought, and didn't see as something gooey and white dropped from the trees and right past Albus's face.

Albus slowly raised his head and looked up, and swore colorfully and with a very wide vocabulary.

"You know Potter," said Scorpius turning his head to look at the dark haired teenager, "you have a very, very dirty mouth. I think you need to work on not swearing so much for no reason."

"Well," said Albus through gritted teeth, "maybe it would comfort you to know that there was a very good reason for it this time."

Scorpius followed his gaze upward, and grew as pale as a white sheet.

Up near the top of the trees, spanning from tree to tree and reaching into the darkness in all directions was one massive, thick spider web. Hundreds upon hundreds of spiders were hanging from the webs and staring at the two wizards. The spiders ranged the whole gamut of possible sizes—from small, tiny ordinary sized spiders, to huge, giant spiders.

"And I've officially walked into my dad's past," said Albus glumly. "Can't anything about my life be unique?" he wondered out loud. Turning to Scorpius he added: "Well, I guess we've established that we were heading to the center of the forest after all."

Scorpius stuttered something incomprehensible. "What was that?" asked Albus as he observed the spiders that were looking at them intently. He wondered how many more seconds it would be before they decided to make a nice meal out of him and Scorpius.

Scorpius stuttered another incomprehensible comment. "What was that?" asked Albus. "Run for our lives? Good plan!"

Albus grabbed the back of Scorpius's robes, whipped him around and gave him a good hard shove in the direction they had come from. Scorpius stumbled slightly, and then broke out into a full out sprint for the second time that day. Albus followed Scorpius with all he had, putting his full energy into the run.

From behind them, Albus heard a crash and the sound of bark being ripped from trees. Albus dared a quick glance over his shoulder and wished he hadn't. The spiders where following them en masse. The tree tops and branches above them were swarming with spiders showing sharp, slippery pincers. Even the ground was now covered in spiders that had dropped from the trees and were running after them at top speed. Hundreds of little red eyes were fixed on them. The prey was fixed in the eyes of the hunters.

Adrenaline and fear coursed through Albus's veins, making him run faster. He aimed his wand over his shoulder, "_Stupefy!_" he yelled. He was rewarded when the foremost of the spiders fell to the ground, stunned. _Well that's not going to work_, he thought grimly. _There's far too many of them to take them out one by one_.

Scorpius ran as fast as he could. His long legs wind-milled out from his body like a crazy animal. His heart was in his throat, beating a mile a second. "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" He heard Albus's voice yelling out the charm behind him and he skidded to a halt, sending large clumps of dirt and grass flying into the air.

Scorpius reeled around staring at Albus in surprise. Albus stood, with his back to Scorpius, feet spread wide, and his arms raised above his head. A wall of earth and rocks was hurtling into the air in front of him, taking a large amount of spiders with it. Once the large entanglement had reached a height of a dozen feet or so, he spun it about and sent it hurtling down on a group of spiders that were rushing towards him from the side.

There was a loud hissing and gurgling as a good number of the arachnids took their dying breaths.

Albus turned toward Scorpius, getting ready to run again. A trio of spiders leapt from the branches over Albus's head. They fell, plummeting towards the unaware Albus.

Scorpius raised his wand, "_Impedimenta!_" he yelled. A jet of light flew from his wand and struck one of the spiders in the face, blasting it away and into a tree.

Albus, following Scorpius's spell, saw the two remaining spiders falling towards him, and promptly stunned one.

"_Perfecto Totalus!_" said Scorpius, freezing the last of the three spiders and sending it crashing to the ground mere inches from Albus.

Albus raised his eyebrows at Scorpius. "Thanks Malfoy."

"Wow, I didn't realize those two words could exist in the same sentence for you, Potter."

"Let's discuss this later shall we?" asked Albus, starting into a hard sprint once more, as another wave of spiders came rushing at them.

The two wizards ran side by side, black hair by blonde, green eyes by blue. A large horde of darkness swarmed after them, hungry red eyes gleaming from the crawling mass as they followed the movements of their next meal.

As Albus ran he noticed a moving black line ahead of him to his right. With a sinking feeling he recognized them as being more arachnids.

The new reinforcements cut off the two wizards' path, completely taking away Scorpius and Albus's escape route.

Albus stopped running, followed by Scorpius in despair. "Quick," said Albus, "let's stand back to back. If I'm going to die, I'm going to take a lot of these creeps with me."

Scorpius did as Albus asked, his blue eyes blazing with intensity.

The two teenagers braced themselves as the spiders came at them. They were ready to fight.

Suddenly, there were arrows whipping through the air from multiple directions. The arrows whizzed past Scorpius and Albus's heads and buried themselves in the mass of spiders. The arachnids halted their advance, their red eyes roving from side to side, looking for their new attackers.

Arrows continued to fly back and forth, seemingly from nowhere, and buried themselves in the flesh of the spiders.

Albus and Scorpius stood in shock, not sure what to do. Finally Scorpius came to his senses, "Come on Albus, fight! Clearly we have some friends out here."

The two wizards stood back to back, shooting spell after spell into the ranks of the spiders. The arachnids hesitated, and then turned and fled, deciding that their prey wasn't worth the trouble they were going through.

As the spiders fled, Scorpius and Albus sent a couple last hexes after them. The last arachnid disappeared, and Scorpius let out a whoop of delight and leapt in the air.

Albus's eyes roved from side to side, looking for their unexpected saviors.

Slowly, out of the darkness and shadows, stepping carefully around the many large carcasses, came five centaurs.

They came from different directions, seeming to have materialized out of nowhere. Each one held a bow in their hand, and a quiver protruded over each ones shoulder.

The first thing Albus noticed was that the two centaurs he had seen earlier were not among the five.

One of the centaurs, a light yellow-brown colored one, stepped forward. He looked like he was rather middle aged, and he had a commanding aura about him.

"You have wandered deep within our forest, younglings," spoke the centaur, looking at the two wizards with piercing eyes.

"Whoever said this was _your_ forest? It belongs to Hog—" Albus broke off with a gasp of pain as Scorpius stepped on his toe.

"Yeah, we're very sorry about this. My name is Scorpius Malfoy, and this is Albus Potter. We were curious and it was naïve of us to enter your forest." said Scorpius, taking over from Albus. "By the way, how did you find us?"

"My name is Sairon. We found you easily. We know everything that occurs in our forest. You should not be here, but at least you are safer than if you were at the castle." The centaur's gaze went from Albus, to Scorpius, and back to Albus again.

"Yeah, at least that's one good thing—" Albus cut himself off, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "Wait a second; is this your version of safe, getting chased by hundreds upon hundreds of humongo spiders that want to make us their midday snack? Also, why wouldn't we have been safe back at the castle?"

"The castle is not a safe place to be tonight."

Albus let his gaze slip over the other four centaurs. The centaurs' faces were completely blank and unemotional. Their steady eyes fixed on the two boy wizards.

"Why isn't it safe?" Albus asked uneasily.

"Our brethren have, unfortunately, decided to take fate and destiny into their own hands. A strange wizard spoke with some of our family outside the walls of Hogwarts. He negotiated a deal with them. They infatuated our whole clan with their plan, and tonight they set it into motion."

"What is this plan?" asked Albus, doubting he would get an answer.

"The five of us here do not think what they are doing is right, so I'll tell you. There is a secret passageway leading from outside the school walls into the grounds near the edge of the forest. The plan was to let the wizard and his men into the school grounds. The wizard and his minions would break into the castle and steal a valuable sword from within."

Albus then understood why the two centaurs they had seen were so near the edge of the trees. He also understood who the wizard was, and which sword it was he had come to the school to get. He looked nervously over at Scorpius, and by the look on his face, the blonde teenager also understood who was doing what and why.

Albus moved his gaze back to the centaur's face. "Why would your people help this evil wizard? What do they stand to gain?"

"My brethren have never been happy being ruled by the race of Men. They feel they are mistreated, and forced to not live as they wish. This is not a new feeling. We centaurs have been struggling with unrest for many long years. A far time ago my race rose up with many others and tried to overthrow your kind, but our attempts failed, and we were just treated with more hostility after that."

Albus felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the history lesson Draco had given them just a few days ago.

The centaur continued, "The wizard that my clan helped into the castle promised another rebellion, but this time he promised success. My family asked him how they were to trust him to destroy his own kind. He said he hated the oppression that other races were put through, and that it needed to stop, no matter the cost. As if this wasn't enough, he promised a sweet revenge in the fact that your kind would be defeated with the very weapons that defeated my race all those years ago.

"I myself am not happy with the way my family and I are treated, but I do not think that this is the right way to change things."

Albus stood dumbstruck. "You mean they're attacking the school tonight?"

"They have already begun."

"We have to get back and help! Can you show us the way out?"

"Why should I? You are mere children. You will be safer here with us."

"We're both sixteen! We're some of the oldest students in the school, they'll need our help, and we could prevent lives being lost," Albus begged earnestly.

The centaur looked thoughtful for awhile. "Alright, your logic makes sense. We will not show you the way out, however. We will do something better; get on my back!"

Albus hesitated, surprised. The centaur trotted closer to him, grabbed his arm, and swung him onto his back. Albus looked over to see another centaur doing the same to Scorpius.

"Hold on!" ordered the centaur to Albus. Albus awkwardly wrapped his arms around the centaur's waist, getting a firm hold.

"To the castle!" cried the centaur. With that he charged off into the forest, his four followers hard on his tail.


	16. Oh Hell

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoy this chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it. Anyways, here it is.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 15: Oh Hell

The five centaurs raced through the forest at an alarming speed. Scorpius and Albus hung on as if their lives depended on it–which they probably did, since they were likely to crack their skulls open if they fell.

Scorpius's long blonde bangs were being whipped back and forth in front of his eyes. He wished he could push them out of the way, but if he moved one of his arms from around the centaur's waist for a mere second, he would be thrown off.

Albus was grimacing in pain every time Sairon moved. He had only been riding Sairon for a few minutes, but his thighs were already beginning to chafe. He was just starting to appreciate how comfortable and easy it was to ride a broom.

The trip out of the forest was a lot shorter than Albus and Scorpius's trip in. The centaurs were fast, and knew exactly where they were heading. They took the shortest route out.

As soon as they reached the edge of the trees, Sairon slowed to a stop and Albus quickly slid off his back. Scorpius and his centaur did likewise.

"This is where we leave you, young ones," said Sairon, his voice grave.

"Why? If you believe what your friends are doing is wrong, won't you help us?" asked Albus earnestly, looking up at the tall centaur.

Sairon looked pained. "No, we cannot. Do not ask us to go against our brethren." The look on his face discouraged any further prompting, Albus dropped his cause.

"Until we meet again, young Potter." Sairon tipped his head in farewell, and the five centaurs slowly faded into the forest.

Scorpius looked up towards the castle and sucked in his breath. "Oh _HELL_," slipped out of Albus from beside him. Scorpius was too preoccupied to chide Albus for his profanity.

The castle was surrounded by a ring of fire that ranged the whole distance around it. Just outside the ring stood a score of centaurs, all armed with bows and arrows. The fire lit up the dark night and made shadowy outlines of the centaurs, many of whom were whooping and galloping back and forth while waving their bows in the air. Every few seconds one of them would stop and fire an arrow through one of the castle windows, and then they would continue their crazed riding.

Terrified screams were issuing from the castle. Through some of the windows Scorpius could see occasional flashes of light and hear the sound of crashing.

Scorpius turned and looked at Albus. Red and orange light from the fire played across his face. His black hair was lit into a burning brown color, and his face was set and determined.

Albus felt Scorpius's gaze on him and he turned to look at him. Blue eyes locked with green. All Albus had to do was nod, and they both understood each other perfectly.

Drawing their wands the two teenagers rushed toward the entrance of the castle, side by side. The centaurs were all facing the flames and didn't see them coming. As they charged the double doors, Albus used a charm to dose the fire just in front of them. They flew through the open door just as three of the centaurs caught sight of them and fired arrows at their backs.

The shafts flew wide and whizzed past Albus and Scorpius harmlessly. The centaurs did not pursue the two boys.

Albus and Scorpius parted and ran off in separate directions, each taking a different staircase. Albus was heading in the direction of the headmaster's office, but Scorpius was heading in the general direction of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers, wanting to make sure everybody there was safe.

Albus flew along corridor after corridor, blazing towards the headmaster's office. Occasionally he passed groups of huddled or running students, looks of fear plastered on their faces. As he flew by these groups, he yelled for them to head back to their dormitories, since they would be safer there.

Albus didn't run into a teacher once, and he wondered where they could all be. Finally, he arrived at the entrance to Flitwick's office. The gargoyle was blown away, revealing the staircase that was usually hidden behind it.

Albus took the stairs two at a time and rushed into the office. It was haywire. Papers lay sprawled across the floor. Smashed bits of furniture were covering every inch of ground.

In the middle of the room lay Flitwick. He was lying sprawled out on his stomach, his short limbs going in every direction. Blood poured from a fresh wound on his head.

Albus fell to the floor beside the headmaster, rolling him over onto his back. Flitwick's face was ashen, and one of his eyes was sealed closed from the blood. His other eye fixed immediately on Albus's face.

"Professor, what happened?" asked Albus anxiously, fearing he already knew the answer.

"Blaise Zabini," Flitwick managed to gasp out, "came… took the sword."

Albus knew immediately which sword he was talking about, and he ground his teeth together as his suspicions were confirmed.

Suddenly Neville Longbottom, the Herbology professor, was by Albus's side. Sweat poured profusely from Neville's face, and his robes were torn in several places. Neville was a good friend of the Potter's and knew completely what Albus was capable of.

"Albus, the others need your help. Most of the fighting is going on a few landings down. Go, I'll look after the headmaster," said Neville, taking the headmaster's head onto his lap as he pulled out his wand.

Albus didn't bother replying. He leapt to his feet and rushed out the door. He took a different corridor than the one he had come up, knowing that since he hadn't run into anyone on his way there, they must be somewhere else.

He heard a loud bang from a corridor to his left, and he took it. He flew down the hallway, leapt down a flight of stairs, and landed in the middle of chaos.

Scorpius ran down one hall, and then up another. He couldn't hear anything from where he was: the castle was silent. A shroud seemed to be hanging over everything. He kept turning around corners, at any moment expecting to see a student, or a teacher, or an enemy, but there was no one.

The silence, the desertion, seemed to hang onto him like a heavy, wet blanket. He wanted so badly to throw it off, but still the only sound that accompanied him was the sound of his own feet pounding on the floor as he ran. The noise echoed off the walls and back at him, haunting him.

The reason he chose to head in the direction of the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers instead of the Hufflepuff dorms or the Slytherin dungeons was simple: the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers were relatively close to each other; he could get to both pretty easily. The other reason was that he had complete and utter confidence that Stephanie would take care of the Hufflepuff students. He knew he could trust her.

Scorpius couldn't help but wonder where Zoë was, and if she was safe. He desperately hoped so. He didn't know what he would do if she got hurt. He couldn't bear the thought.

However, moral obligation prevented him from heading directly to the Slytherin dungeons to make sure Zoë was okay. Even though Scorpius cared more for Zoë than most of the students at Hogwarts, he knew that the right thing was to make sure as many students as possible were safe. It didn't matter what his personal feelings were.

Not for the first time, Scorpius asked himself where all the professors were, and, more importantly, where was Zabini and his men? If, indeed, it was Zabini who was behind the attack on the castle.

Scorpius's thoughts were rent apart as he heard a scream. It was a terrible, piercing, high pitched scream of pain, and it was close. Scorpius sped up, knowing that the scream most likely came from a student, and that whoever it was needed help.

He swerved around a corner and froze. Down the corridor about twenty feet stood two men wearing the dark hooded robes Scorpius was getting very used to seeing. Just five feet in front of Scorpius knelt Lily. Her wand lay by her feet. Her fiery red head was slumped forwards. Scorpius couldn't see her face, but from the tense set of her shoulders he could tell she was in pain.

"_Crucio!_" spat one of the men in black. A jet of light shot from his wand and struck Lily. The same scream Scorpius had heard just a moment before ripped from Lily's lungs. She fell from her knees, to being completely laid out on the floor. She writhed back in forth on the ground. Her eyes rolled in their sockets and her hair snapped back and forth in motion with her body.

The man who was torturing Lily stopped, as his partner laughed hysterically. "Not so feisty anymore, are we pretty little girl?" asked the first man in a nasty, gravelly voice.

It was dark in the corridor, and the two men hadn't caught sight of Scorpius standing in the shadows.

"How about some more, sweet little thing?" asked the man, stepping forward a little and hissing the curse once more.

"No…" whispered Lily weakly. The jet of light flew across the corridor toward her.

"No!" yelled Scorpius, echoing Lily, only much, much louder. He leapt in front of Lily just in time to be struck by the curse in her place.

Scorpius heard, as if from far away, his own scream filling the hall. The sound seemed to becoming through a thick wall. It was muffled and unclear. The only thing that registered was the pain—intense, terrible pain. Scorpius staggered back into the wall of the corridor, wishing the suffering would end.

And his wish came true: the pain stopped, as abruptly as it had started. He gasped and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, just a couple of feet from where Lily lay.

Scorpius realized he had to do _something_, anything, or the pain would just come back. He slowly rose to his feet, propping himself up against the wall. Somehow, miraculously, his wand was still clenched in his sweaty fist.

The man who had used the curse on Scorpius cast it at the blonde boy once more. Scorpius raised his trembling wand hand, and cast a shield spell: blocking the curse. The man snarled in frustration.

Again the man cast the curse at Scorpius, and again Scorpius blocked it. The man's eyes were bulging in anger now. The man fired the spell once more, and once more Scorpius blocked it.

The man started forwards towards Scorpius, but his companion grabbed his arm. "Enough. We don't have time to waste on this little runt. Let's go. We need to meet up with the others," hissed the man's companion with impatience.

"Fine," the torturer gave in, "but let him try to survive this!" As the man turned to leave, he shot one last jet of light in Scorpius's direction.

To Scorpius's surprise, the hex wasn't aimed at him, or even at Lily. The jet of light flew up above Scorpius's head and into the ceiling.

There was a loud ripping sound as the roof started to cave in. There wasn't any time to think, and barely enough time to act. And that's what Scorpius did: he acted instantly, and without even thinking.

Scorpius threw himself spread eagle onto the floor, right over Lily. He held himself just a few inches above Lily's sprawled body, and he braced himself for the impact he knew was coming.

Weakly, Lily looked up at Scorpius, and the picture she saw burned itself forever into her brain. Scorpius's face was just a couple inches from hers. His jaw was clenched tightly, and his slight shoulders were set in anticipation of the pain he knew was coming. Despite all that, his irises were a blazing blue fire in his pale and sweaty face. His eyes contained more passion, determination and confidence than Lily had ever seen in anyone's whole _face_ before. Mixed in his eyes, with all the passion and determination, was something else that Lily couldn't identify. Was it anxiety? Was it willpower? It almost seemed to Lily that it was hope, but that didn't make any sense…

Over Scorpius's shoulder Lily could see the large clumps of stone falling from the roof, heading straight for Scorpius. She opened her mouth, and whispered something.

Scorpius couldn't be sure of what she said; he didn't quite catch it. He thought that she had said thank you, but he wasn't positive. Then came the impact that he had seemed to be waiting ages for, though in reality it had only been a second.

The blow from the chunks of stone and ceiling hitting his back was hard, but Scorpius didn't budge. His eyes squeezed shut from the pain that shot up and down the length of his body and he shook a bit, but that was all the reaction that came from the tough blonde boy.

Throughout the duration of the roof falling in, Lily watched Scorpius's face with wide eyes, not moving her gaze for an instant. Fear wasn't one of the emotions she was feeling at the moment. Though there _was_ a large knot of emotions in her stomach, none of which she could identify as she watched, with amazement, Scorpius take the beating that would have killed her.

Finally the last of the cave-in settled. Scorpius gave a long, deep groan, and then, with a shuddering breath, he pushed himself to the side and collapsed, fully spread out on his back next to Lily.

Lily struggled to her knees, sending a cloud of debris into the air. "Scorpius, are you okay?"

There was no reply from the blonde teenager who had saved her life. He was spread out on the floor. His body was no longer tensed for an impact, but was limp and seemed lifeless. His eyes were closed, but no longer squeezed shut. His face was blank, void of all emotion.

Lily rolled him over onto his stomach, and gave a short scream of horror. Scorpius's shirt was all but completely ripped from his body. His back was a messy mop of blood and flesh, with stray pieces of stone jutting from the skin. On top of that, one of Scorpius's legs was twisted at a weird angle and trapped beneath a particularly large piece of the ceiling.

Lily called with all her might for help. Nobody seemed to hear her, so she called again, and again. But nobody came.


	17. The Sword Is Stolen

Author's Note:

I find myself apologizing once again for letting a long period of time pass without posting a chapter. I can only say that with the end of the year I was ridiculously busy with various things and so was my beta. Anyways, summer is here so I'm hoping to get back to regularly posting, hopefully even more so than before. I hope you enjoy the new chapter and that it draws you back into the story if you've started to drift away with the long relapse. I would just like to remind you to review if you have anything to say, it really helps me to keep writing.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 16: The Sword Is Stolen

Albus gasped, and did a double take, trying to take it all in as fast as possible. The corridor was a blur of flying curses, and spinning persons. Debris from the wall and ceiling lay scattered across the floor. Here and there a prone body lay sprawled out on the floor amidst the dust and scraps of stone.

Albus couldn't make out much in the crowded and dark hallway, but he thought he caught sight of Malfoy's friend Stephanie Bones once or twice, and he saw a couple of the Hogwarts professors. Whirling in and among these familiar faces were many of the cloaked figures that Albus had encountered before, in the fight club.

Albus threw himself into the fray without hesitation. After all, it was this kind of excitement he had gone to America to find, wasn't it?

People swam around Albus, he spun on his heel, dealing punches left and right and occasionally letting a spell fly when he got the chance.

Someone's elbow caught Albus in the stomach, and he stumbled into the wall, gasping for breath. He recovered himself just in time to disarm a dark figure that was sneaking up on Professor Lovegood, who was preoccupied with dueling two other men at the moment.

Albus caught sight of Zabini down the corridor, locked in a furious duel with Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Albus couldn't help but feel hope rising in his chest. Surely if anyone was a match for Zabini it would be Shacklebolt, the Dark Arts professor who had once been an Auror and fought in the war against Voldemort.

Albus was dismayed when Zabini, less than ten seconds later, sent Shacklebolt flying into the wall with a wave of his wand. Albus stared in horror as the professor slid down the wall, a dark pool of blood spreading from his body.

Zabini's voice boomed across the confined corridor. "Alright, time to go! Everyone out!"

Zabini and his cloaked supporters surged towards the staircase at the other end of the hallway. Albus gawked as the professors and students who had been fighting them merely seconds before stood still and and did nothing to stop the retreat of the attackers.

Luna Lovegood spoke with more authority then she normally did. "Let them go. Enough pain has been caused this night."

Albus started to hurry after the fleeing figures, but stopped when a voice cried out at him from behind. "Albus don't!" yelled Stephanie from where she sat on the ground, holding her ankle which appeared to be broken.

It took Albus a moment to realize she had called him by his first name. "Why?" he asked simply in return.

Stephanie's eyes, to his surprise, were pleading with him. "Because…they'll kill you." It was barely a whisper.

"And if they do, so be it," was Albus's only reply. He stood staring at Stephanie for a mere split second, but to her it seemed like an hour that she stood up to that piercing gaze of his, before he rushed off after the retreating figures.

Somewhere Else In The Castle

"Somebody help!" Lily's cries echoed off the empty corridor walls, and bounced back at her, seeming to tease her.

Finally Lily gave up. She put her arms around Scorpius's limp body, pulled it onto her lap, and began to sob. Here Scorpius, who she barely even knew, had given his life for her. In her rare interactions with Scorpius she had never been anything short of cruel to him. Why had he saved her?

Suddenly there was a low groan from Scorpius, and his eyelids fluttered open. Lily froze mid sob, and stared down at the blonde boy in surprise, her eyes wide.

Scorpius let out another groan and blinked. "Well, this is a nice place to find oneself after coming to, though _zounds_ if my back and leg don't hurt like…well, hurt like half a ceiling fell on them, which I guess did happen after all."

Lily still stared down at him, her mouth gaping, speechless.

"Why are your eyes all watery? Have you been crying? If so, you should cry more often. You actually look pretty with your eyes all tearful and sad."

Lily found her voice. "You _bastard_!" she dumped Scorpius's head unceremoniously out of her lap and onto the floor.

Scorpius gave out a yell of pain. "Owwww! What is it with you Potters and swearing so? If I was your mother I'd take soap to your mouths."

Lily glared at him and crossed her arms. "I can't say I'm sorry for that. You deserved it after what you said." All tears were now gone from her eyes, and only anger and frustration remained.

Scorpius had rolled himself onto his stomach, trying to avoid the pain of lying on his raw back. He spoke up at Lily from his rather awkward position, his head lying on the floor. "Shouldn't you be a little more grateful for me saving your life, Little Potter?"

"_Little Potter_? I have a name you know, and right now, no, I'm finding it impossible to feel grateful to you." Lily had the feeling Scorpius would have waved away her comment if he could have, but he was busy trying to move as little as possible, to save himself as much pain as he could.

"Names are just tags people assign to you, and I'm assigning you my own special one. You should feel important." Scorpius stretched out one of his hands—while grimacing in pain—to try to reach his wand which had fallen a couple feet from him. Lily, who was closer to it than him, plucked it away and out of his reach. Scorpius frowned at her.

"Well I don't feel important, and I would prefer it if you called me by the _tag_ my parents assigned me."

Scorpius cocked his head (as much as he could, considering his current condition) and seemed to think about what Lily had said for a few minutes, then he shook his head, as if coming to a decision. "No, I don't think I will. I like my name for you much better. It's more interesting than Lily. What type of name is that anyways? Who wants to be named after a prissy flower?"

"I like my name, thank you very much. It's better than some stupid name like Scorpius anyway," said Lily, glaring at Scorpius from behind her crossed arms. She knew she sounded a bit childish, but she couldn't really help it.

Scorpius's body shook with laughter, which quickly turned to a groan of pain at the slight movement. "Whatever floats your boat, Little Potter. Like being named after a flower could ever be better than being named after a scorpion."

Lily was secretly amazed at Scorpius's ability to take pain. She never would have admitted it to him, but she was very impressed. She knew he must be in more agony than she could imagine, yet there he lay, not complaining, and only occasionally making a sound that gave away the fact that he was actually in severely injured.

"Could you, you know, maybe go find a professor or Madam Carter? Because, though I hate to admit it, my body feels like it's on fire, and though I don't really mind that so much, I would prefer to get healed up and get out of here before some of those creepy hooded blokes come back and lynch us."

This jolted Lily back to reality. She gasped, horrified at herself. "I don't need to go get a professor, I'm studying medical wizardry. I can heal you."

Scorpius sighed, and Lily saw him roll his eyes. "Then why haven't you healed me yet? Or are you trying to get us both killed?"

"I'm sorry," apologized Lily. "With everything that's been going on, I clean forgot."

Scorpius grumbled something about people who forgot who or what they were, and what they could do. Finally he said, "Well better late than never, I suppose."

Lily grabbed her wand and moved over so that she was kneeling as close to Scorpius as possible. She ran her wand gently along Scorpius's back, murmuring words of healing. The little bits of debris that were sticking out of Scorpius's back were pushed up and out as the skin re-grew and healed.

Scorpius felt a cooling sensation run up his back, and the feeling of being on fire gradually receded. He sighed with pleasure as most of the agony vanished about a minute later, with only the pain in his foot still remaining.

Lily scooted down closer to his foot, and with a hard push managed to clear the stone slab off of Scorpius's ankle. A quick spell later and Scorpius was fully functional once again.

Scorpius rose to his feet, brushing the dust and chips of stone from his clothes. He looked slightly abashed at himself. "Er… thanks."

"You're welcome," returned Lily cordially.

"Sorry about what I said earlier, I guess the pain was making me a bit irritable."

"No it's fine. I shouldn't have reacted like that. Besides, it doesn't matter what you said, you saved my life, and I needed to be more grateful."

Scorpius muttered something incomprehensible while blushing slightly.

"Anyways, does this mean you'll call me Lily?" she asked playfully.

Scorpius looked up with a wicked grin. "No, I don't think so. I like my nickname for you."

"Why you—"

She was cut off by a loud bang coming from off somewhere in the castle.

Scorpius slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead. "Of course, I completely forgot: the castle is under attack!" With that the blond teenager grabbed his wand from Lily's loose hand, and took off down the corridor. He yelled over his shoulder at her, "Go take care of the younger Gryffindors!"

Lily hesitated, wanting to go after him, but she realized that his advice was a good idea. A moment later she was rushing off towards the Gryffindor tower.

Somewhere Else In The Castle

Scorpius, on the other hand, was heading right back to where he had come from: the entrance hall. Why? Because that was where the sound had come from, and he figured Lily could handle the younger students on her own.

Albus sprinted after the retreating figures. He had lost precious seconds when Stephanie had called him back, but he was faster then his prey, and was catching up.

One of the cloaked figures seemed to have heard him, for he turned around and, upon seeing Albus, the man raised his wand and muttered a spell. A black jet of light shot from his wand and hit the ceiling with a bang Albus was sure could be heard throughout most of the castle. The cloaked figure turned and ran on.

Seeing that the ceiling seemed to be rending itself in half, Albus sped up and dived past the area, skidding to a halt. Albus looked over his shoulder just in time to see the whole portion of ceiling where the curse had hit collapsing in, making the corridor completely impassable.

Grimly Albus stood up and rushed after Zabini and his men.

Albus finally caught up to them in the entrance hall. He fired off a jinx that sent one of the men flying out the door and onto the grass beyond. Immediately all the cloaked men turned to face him.

Albus braced himself, ready for the fight of his life, but Zabini stepped forward and ordered his men to do nothing.

Zabini chuckled softly as he looked at Albus.

"Well, well Potter…We meet again, sooner than I would have thought."

Albus spoke firmly. "Hand it over."

"Why, I don't know you could be talking about," said Zabini silkily.

"Oh, I think you do."

"Right, what am I playing at, of course I do," Zabini continued in his silky voice. "Thomas, show the boy what he's talking about." With a wave of his hand Zabini indicated for one of his followers to step forward.

A man with his hood pulled so far down that Albus couldn't see his face, stepped forward. From the folds of his robe he pulled out exactly what Albus knew they had come for: the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

The blade of the sword gleamed like cold steel even in the darkness of the hall. The rubies in the hilt glinted dully.

Albus gritted his teeth. It was exactly as he had feared.

Suddenly there was the sound of pounding feet, and shooting from one of the corridors leading onto the hall came Scorpius.

He was covered in blood and dust, and his robes were nearly torn from his body. His blonde hair lay plastered to his forehead with sweat and he was panting heavily.

Despite all this, Albus could say, for once in his life, that he was glad to see Scorpius.

Scorpius brushed his long blonde bangs out of his eyes. "I'm glad I got here in time. I do love a good fight, especially with these odds."

In the dim light Albus barely managed to see Zabini shake his head in disbelief.

"Do you boys have a death wish?" Zabini seemed to be trying to convince himself that teenagers these days weren't in fact _that _stupid.

"I can't speak for Malfoy, but personally I couldn't care less whether I died or not." Albus raised his wand and pointed it levelly at Zabini.

It was Scorpius's turn to stare in disbelief. "I was going to say something more along the lines of 'Well, what better cause than to die trying to save the lives of my fellow countrymen'."

Albus rolled his eyes without looking at Scorpius. "Don't try to be all heroic and melodramatic, Malfoy."

"But I am melodramatic, and I am a hero," said Scorpius, confident in himself.

"Oh wow… Can we please get on with this?" Now Albus was shaking his head.

"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly, young Potter." Zabini's eyebrows were raised in amusement at the two teenagers' dialogue. With a wave of his hand Zabini signaled for his men to go on without him. "I can handle these two alone." With that all the dark robed men except Zabini turned and vanished out onto the grounds which were still lighted with fire.

"Hell if I'm letting them get away that easily!" yelled Albus as he charged forwards.

Zabini fired a curse at Albus. Albus blocked it with a flick of his wand, this allowed for him to draw close enough to drive his knee into Zabini's stomach. Zabini fell to the ground with a muffled gasp.

Albus leapt over Zabini's prone figure and rushed out onto the grounds.

From his place on the floor Zabini made a motion with his wand. Albus flew into the air, and, as if a hook was reeling him in, came shooting back into the entrance hall and slammed into a far wall, collapsing onto the floor.

Scorpius fired a hex at the still prostrate Zabini. Zabini rolled to the side just in time to avoid the spell.

The next instant Zabini was on his feet, firing a curse at Scorpius, which Scorpius blocked quickly with a shield charm.

A furious duel then began between Zabini and Scorpius. Scorpius pulled out every jinx, hex, and spell that he had in his arsenal. Scorpius knew that even though he was fighting with all he had, Zabini was merely playing with him, figuring out the extent of his abilities.

Even though Scorpius knew that Zabini could take him out at any second, he continued on, desperately hoping that he could keep Zabini entertained long enough for some help to arrive.

Finally, the help did arrive, though it didn't come in the form Scorpius had been expecting. "_Stupefy!_" was heard resounding through the hall, though neither Scorpius, Zabini, nor the innate form of Albus had said it. There was a flash of red light, and Zabini collapsed forward onto his face.

In his place stood Zoë. In one hand she held her wand, in the other she held Slytherin's dagger. She looked surprised, but rather pleased. Scorpius, on the other hand, couldn't look anything _but_ surprised.

"That was amazing Zoë! How did you do that? I didn't see you coming at all," admiration was blatant in Scorpius's voice.

Zoë blushed slightly. "I just used Slytherin's dagger to make myself invisible. After that it was easy. I snuck up behind him and stunned him."

"That was brilliant!" cried Scorpius, his eyes shining. "And now we have the leader of this whole conspiracy."

There was a blur of movement, and the next instant Zoë was rolling across the floor, the dagger skidding across the smooth tiles.

The cloaked man that Zabini had called Thomas now stood above his master. In his right hand was his wand. In his left hand remained the sword of Gryffindor. His hood had fallen off his head, revealing a black face that was topped by identical black hair.

The man seemed to be staring at Slytherin's weapon. "Some luck at last," gasped out Thomas.

Scorpius fired a hex at the man. Thomas quickly ducked, sending the hex flying over his head. Thomas slid Gryffindor's sword quickly into the folds of his robe. Grabbing the limp form of Zabini, Thomas threw his leader across his shoulders, turned, and rushed out of the hall and onto the grounds from where he had come. Scorpius could see the retreating figure heading towards the Forbidden Forest where a group of men and centaurs could be seen huddling at the edge of the trees.

Scorpius turned away from the entrance, letting the man called Thomas escape with the limp form of Zabini on his back. "Why didn't he take the knife?" asked Scorpius of the silent darkness.


	18. Eavesdropping

Author's Note:

Well, this time I can put the blame on my beta for this chapter taking an extra week to get up. She was busy, and took her time editing this one. But hey, what can you do? As Stephen King says: "To write is human, to edit is divine." and it's true, so I really can't complain. I hope you like this chapter, I'm trying to keep the main plot moving, at the same time as keeping dialogue and characters going.

Chapter 17: Eavesdropping

The next day was chaos. The school was in an uproar. Teachers were seen running back and forth repairing the damage done to the castle, and students were sending rumors flying so thick they could practically be seen zooming in the air.

Scorpius spent the day running about, trying to help as much as he could wherever he was needed. Every time he caught sight of Lily she would be walking with an absentminded expression on her face. Albus, on the other hand, seemed to be strolling with a new spring in his step and gleam in his eye, though Scorpius couldn't imagine what he had to be happy about. He had gotten his butt kicked last night, and the sword of Gryffindor had been stolen. Zoë spent the whole day with Scorpius, helping with the work that needed to be done. Stephanie was still in the infirmary, the professors being too busy with other injuries, and everything else that needed to be done, to get around to healing her broken ankle.

Scorpius was starting to enjoy Zoë's company more and more. He found her relaxing to be around, and though she was shy at first, she was opening up more and more.

As they were clearing away some rubble from one of the corridors, Scorpius sat back on his haunches and wiped some sweat from his brow. "I wonder why that man—the one who snuck up on us last night—didn't take the dagger when he had the chance. I mean, there was no way we could've stopped him from killing us, _or_ from taking the weapon."

Zoë took a seat on a large rock, also wiping sweat from her forehead. It was only the two of them in the corridor. It was evening, and they had been hard at work for hours.

"Yeah, I don't know," said Zoe looking rather thoughtful. "Maybe the problem was that he _couldn't_ take the knife."

Scorpius looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when Rasputin gave me the knife, he said you had to be a Slytherin to wield the weapon. I'm guessing that means that the man hadn't been in Slytherin when he was younger, so he couldn't have taken Salazar's weapon, even though I'm sure he wanted to."

"That makes sense," said Scorpius after thinking about it. He moved his gaze up to the ceiling of the corridor. It was, in fact, the same hallway where he had rescued Lily. There were large cracks all up the wall and across the ceiling. It looked dangerously close to collapsing again, and probably would have if not for several wooden beams Luna had charmed into existence to hold it up.

"So we have Slytherin's weapon, Zabini has Gryffindor's...where are Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's?" Scorpius asked aloud of the wall.

The wall didn't seem particularly forthcoming, so Zoe answered the question instead. "I know, it's curious...though don't forget that Zabini could actually have either or both of those weapons. We don't know for sure."

"That's true. But remember the man last night? He said 'finally some luck is on our side' when he saw the dagger, which makes me think they haven't had much luck in procuring the others."

"You do have a point..." said Zoë thoughtfully, tapping her chin with her index finger.

Scorpius grabbed a large chunk of tile and rock, and chucked it into the wheel barrow they were storing the debris in.

Luna came around the corner just then in a swirl of dusty looking work robes. Her face was grimy with sweat, just like Scorpius and Zoë's.

"Hallo there Mr. Malfoy, Miss Dursley," said Luna in her dreamy voice.

"Hallo professor!" said Scorpius cheerfully, rising to his feet while brushing his hands on his robes.

"Thank you both sooo much! You were both a brilliant help today! But now it's time for dinner. You guys have been working hard for hours..."

"Oh, it was nothing really, professor. Anytime you need my help, just call," said Scorpius, blushing slightly.

Luna beamed at him. "Okay now, off you two go to the Great Hall. Make sure to get a good, large supper!"

"Thank you professor!" said Zoë, as she headed off towards the Great Hall with Scorpius in tow.

"Luna's a pretty cool teacher..." said Scorpius absentmindedly as he matched his stride to Zoë's.

"Yeah, she is...I guess I've never really appreciated the teachers at school as much as I should have. I've spent all my days at Hogwarts wishing I wasn't here..."

Scorpius looked at Zoë through the corner of his eye.

"And all this craziness of the last week...Slytherin's dagger being in my possession, and now Zabini knows it he'll probably be coming after _me_...I'm scared." The last two words were barely audible.

Scorpius wanted so badly to take her in his arms and hug her, and tell her that everything would be fine because he would protect her. But he knew she wouldn't want that. Despite the fact that she was telling him all this, he knew she was still a strong girl and wouldn't lean on him for support like that. She wanted to take care of herself. She was merely sharing some feelings with him; that was all.

They arrived at the Great Hall. Scorpius took his place at the Hufflepuff table, and was slightly disappointed when Zoë sat across the table from him instead of in the spot by his side.

They ate their meal in silence. Scorpius wanted to say something, but no words came to mind. He mentally banged his head in aggravation. The day had been going so well, and now Zoë was opening up to him about how she was feeling about recent events, and he was acting like a complete idiot and not saying anything in return.

"Well, I'm going to go," said Zoë with a sigh, rising to her feet.

"Wait, Zoe…" Zoë stopped mid-rise, and looked across at Scorpius.

"What?"

Scorpius hesitated, and then shook his head. "Nevermind."

Scorpius watched helplessly as Zoë walked away.

Scorpius banged his fist on the table in aggravation.

Just then there was a commotion in the entrance to the hall, and Scorpius stood up to see what was going on. Suddenly the Minister of Magic, followed by Ginny, Zacharias, and Seamus, came pushing through the crowd in a swirl of robes.

Scorpius sunk back into his seat without surprise. Of course the Minister of Magic and Aurors would be called in after what happened last night.

Michael Corner started towards the head table but stopped when he saw it was empty. "Where is Flitwick and the other professors?" the Minister asked the students in a commanding voice.

Scorpius leapt to his feet once more. "They're fixing up the corridor near the Headmaster's office, Minister," said Scorpius as politely as he could.

Corner's eyes shot over to Scorpius. "Thank you, my boy." With that Corner and Ginny turned and swept out of the hall. Seamus looked at Scorpius for a couple of seconds, and then followed his bosses. Zacharias was the last to leave.

Not feeling hungry anymore, Scorpius exited the hall.

Scorpius spent another hour or so clearing the corridor he had been working on earlier that day, but Zoë didn't show up again.

Once the last bit of daylight had disappeared from the window set high in the corridor wall, Scorpius decided to call it a day.

He slowly headed back to his common room, but halfway there he changed his mind.

Turning on his heel, Scorpius headed for the corridor he sent the Minister of Magic to earlier. He started off at a jog, but as he neared the location, he slowed to a walk, creeping along, trying to make as little noise as possible.

When he got to the end of the corridor, Scorpius stopped moving completely and pressed himself into the wall. He peered around the corner. He could see all the Hogwarts teachers, the Minister, and the Aurors. He could tell they were talking, but all he could hear was a muffled buzzing.

Scorpius smiled to himself. _Of course, a sound silencing spell._. "_Dissendium!_" he muttered as quietly as possible. Immediately the voices could be heard.

"—Dean Thomas, I'm sure it was him." It was professor Longbottom's voice.

"No! You must have mistaken somebody else for him, Neville. There is no way Dean would betray us like that. I worked side by side with him for years. I trusted him completely with everything. My life was totally in his hands, all the time! He was captured and maybe killed, but there is no way he switched sides on us!" Ginny was practically yelling, refusing to accept what Neville had told her.

"Maybe he didn't switch sides, maybe he was always on their side." Neville's voice was low, but firm.

"What are you suggesting?" said Ginny softly, though anger was clear in her voice.

"Maybe Dean was on their side from before the incident at the Malfoy manor. Maybe he had gotten all the inside info from us that he needed. The whole robbery could have been killing two birds with one stone for them: they got the book they needed, _and_ they made us think that Dean had been kidnapped. They made us think that Dean had been on our side, but really he was on theirs all along."

"This is ridiculous!" yelled Ginny, outraged. "Seamus, Zacharias, tell him! Tell him how Dean was undyingly loyal to us. Tell him how Dean was as good an Auror as you could find. Tell him!"

Zacharias and Seamus were quiet, and neither would look straight at Ginny. "Well you know, I never could understand how they snuck up on us so well," began Zacharias finally. "It would have been a lot easier for Dean to stun me than for someone else to have surprised me like that."

Ginny looked like she couldn't believe her ears, she looked quickly to Seamus. Seamus looked uncomfortable. "Ginny, you know, it definitely would have been easier for them to get into the manor like they did, through all of our protective spells, if they had had someone on the inside."

Ginny looked aghast. "I can't believe you two. I, for one, know that Dean would never have done something like this. I refuse to consider it."

The Minister spoke up. "Whether or not Thomas did betray us, we must look at things from the worst possible angle, so that we have as much advantage on the situation as possible. It will be quite a blow for us if it _does_ turn out that Thomas is on their side. First Zabini, now Thomas. How many others in the Ministry are not actually on our side?"

"But Dean _is_ on our side." Ginny spoke firmly.

The Minister sighed gravely.

Shacklebolt stepped forward. Scorpius had heard that he'd dueled Zabini and been severely injured, so he was glad to see him fully healed and back on his feet. "What I want to know," began Shacklebolt in his deep bass voice, "is how the sword of Gryffindor got into Zabini's possession. Isn't it said that it takes a true Gryffindor to pull that sword out of the sorting hat?"

Now it was Flitwick's turn to speak up. Scorpius had heard that he'd been injured fighting Zabini as well, and he was once more very, very glad for the speedy recovery. "Well I guess that supports that Dean must be with Zabini, because it definitely does take a Gryffindor to pull the sword out. What I don't understand is how Dean—or any Gryffindor who is with Zabini—" he added hastily at the look on Ginny's face, "could be considered a true Gryffindor while allied with someone so evil."

No one seemed to have an answer to that.

"I assume that Slytherin's dagger is still safe and in friendly hands?" asked Corner after a pause.

"Yes, yes it is," replied Flitwick.

Corner sighed in relief. "That's good. We have one of the Founder's weapons, and they have one. So we're on equal ground."

"Well, maybe," said Flitwick. "We know they have at _least_ one. For all we know they could have gone and raided the dwarfs, taking Hufflepuff's axe, or they might have been able to locate Ravenclaw's lost weapon."

"Hm... well it's time for some good news at least," said Corner. "Would you like to do the honors Ginevra?" asked the Minister, giving Ginny an encouraging nod.

A tired smile broke across Ginny's tense features. "Harry is being returned to us at last, with full apologies from the Danish government."

"That's wonderful!" exclaimed Luna.

Flitwick frowned. "Why are they letting him go now, after all this time? What has changed?"

"Apparently the people who were behind the abduction of the prince came forward. They offered to return the prince for some stupid Danish heirloom that had been in the family for centuries. So with proof that England had nothing to do with the kidnapping, of course they let Harry go." Ginny, naturally, was quite happy as she said this. "He's arriving tomorrow."

Flitwick, however, was not quite as happy. "What was this family heirloom?" he asked hesitantly.

"It was some bow and quiver of arrows, apparently. I don't know why someone would go to all the trouble of abduction just for some heirloom. I guess it must be pretty valuable, but still."

Flitwick visibly paled. He slapped his hand to his forehead. "Of course! I have been so blind! Rowena Ravenclaw was originally part of the Danish royalty. She moved to England when she was a teenager because of turmoil within the royal family. Which means that her dwarven weapons were most likely given to her children who returned to claim the thrown of Denmark!"

Seamus was catching on. "So whoever kidnapped the prince obviously knew all of this, and knew the power of the weapon. While the king of Denmark must have been clueless of its powers. And who else is trying to obtain these weapons than Zabini? It makes so much sense now! Even the fact that the prince was abducted off the coast of England. We have _all_ been so blind and foolish, and it has cost us dearly."

Corner's lip was trembling visibly. "So we now know that Zabini has two of the weapons, and we only have one. We must get that fourth weapon from the dwarves, or we stand no chance. The dwarves live far north in their caves. Who should we send to try and retrieve the weapon?"

"I'll go." Ginny's eyes were blazing.

"No you will not," said Corner to everyone's surprise. "You're Head Auror, and far too valuable. We need you here."

Ginny looked like she was about to protest, but subsided.

"Maybe Harry should go? He is our diplomat after all, and the dwarves will definitely need persuading." This suggestion was offered by Neville.

"If I stay, my husband stays," said Ginny firmly. "I've been away from him for too long, and he's just been through so much."

"Well, so have we all," said Neville.

"He stays," said Ginny, making the point moot.

"Send me." All heads swiveled around in surprise and stared. There stood Scorpius, his hands clenched and determined, his eyes sparkling brilliantly.

"What? A young kid?" asked Zacharias in contempt. Scorpius glared at him.

Flitwick chuckled a little. "Ah, young Mr. Malfoy, you would definitely be one I would not be surprised to find eavesdropping on a highly important conversation."

"Sorry about that sir, but I couldn't really help myself. And besides, I figured I was entitled to because I encountered Zabini twice, in the fight club, and here at Hogwarts itself. Also I can tell you," here he looked at Ginny, "that Dean Thomas is indeed with Zabini. I heard Zabini call him by name, and he was the one with the Gryffindor sword."

"Even if that is true, I won't believe that Dean betrayed us. I can only believe that he is being forced to do things against his will. There must be some reason."

"I think I should be one of the ones to be sent. After all I am a Hufflepuff, and it's Hufflepuff's weapon we're going after."

"Well, you see Mr. Malfoy, Shacklebolt and Smith here are both Hufflepuffs as well." This was pointed out by Corner.

Scorpius continued as if he hadn't said anything. "I think Albus Potter and Zoë Dursley should come as well. They've also faced Zabini twice, and, as you know, Potter is as capable as any fully trained wizard. Besides which, Zoë is the one in possession of Slytherin's dagger, and she's already unlocked some of its powers, so it only seems fair that she come along.

"But you see Mr. Malfoy, you are still children, and cannot go on such a dangerous journey," said Corner kindly.

Flitwick was looking at Scorpius intensely. "I think Mr. Malfoy is correct. Those three should go. Though, of course, not completely alone."

Corner _and_ Ginny both started to protest.

"Mere children..."

"My son...too dangerous..."

Flitwick cut them off. "They are very nearly adults. And, as Scorpius has pointed out, there are plenty of reasons why they are tied up in what is going on here. Also, it stands to reason that if they've already faced Zabini twice, through no fault of their own, and have survived both times, they are most likely as safe going after the axe of Hufflepuff as they are staying here.

"Of course I will not send them out alone. Neville, Seamus, will the two of you be willing to go with them?" Both Neville and Seamus agreed hastily. "Good, then it is settled." Ginny and Corner both looked as if it was far from settled, but neither seemed willing to argue with the headmaster. "There is much to be done still with repairing the castle and getting ready for the journey. It is late and I suggest we all get to bed. Sleeping quarters will be arranged for you, Minister, and of course for you as well Ginevra, Zacharias and Seamus. Scorpius, will you be so kind as to inform Miss Dursley and Mr. Potter of all that has passed? Good. You might also want to make sure they are actually willing to go on this trip. It is dangerous, and it is not our desire to send them unwillingly into danger. Alright, goodnight everyone!" Flitwick spoke with authority and command; no one dared argue.

Scorpius walked mechanically off to his common room, not able to fully believe that he'd actually been listened to by the headmaster. He thought he must be dreaming.

It was now quite late and the castle was deserted. Scorpius reached his common room and walked to his dormitory. Without bothering to take off any of his clothes, Scorpius collapsed into bed and gazed up at the top of his fourposter.

"Boy am I in for an adventure."


	19. The Excitement of Moonlit Towers

Author's Note:

So the story continues, a little different theme at the end of this chapter that hasn't shown up in this story yet. See what you think.

Chapter 18: The Excitement of Moonlit Towers

Scorpius couldn't fall asleep. He was too excited and had way too much to think about. Dragging himself off of his bed, he left the dormitories. He hadn't bothered to undress before collapsing onto his fourposter, so there was no need to spend time putting on clothes.

His beside clock had said that it was only eleven thirty, and, not surprisingly, there were still a few people in the common room. Wanting some peace and quiet to get his thoughts straight, Scorpius slipped quietly out of the portrait hole.

None of the torches were lit and the hallways were dark. Rays of moonlight came shining through the occasional window Scorpius passed, making curious designs across the tiled floor.

Scorpius walked along noiselessly, enjoying the serenity. He made his way slowly through the castle, heading towards the Astronomy Tower. It was his favorite place just to be alone and think. It would be the perfect spot this time of night with the moon nearly full.

To his disappointment, it was not quite as empty as he had hoped.

Scorpius climbed the stairs leading up to the tower, and gave the door a push. Just as it swung all the way open, a jet of light shot by Scorpius's head, barely missing him. Scorpius immediately dove to the floor, rolling to the side as he pulled out his wand.

There was a figure hidden in the shadows, crouching by the parapet opposite Scorpius.

Scorpius leapt to his feet and pointed his wand at the shape, waiting for it to make a move.

A low chuckling came from the figure, and it materialized into the all too familiar form of Albus.

"Relax Malfoy, it was an accident. If I actually wanted to hurt you I wouldn't need to take you by surprise like that. Besides, I wouldn't have missed."

"What the heck are doing up here, Potter?" asked Scorpius angrily, still a little disgruntled by the close shave.

"I could ask the same of you, Malfoy."

"I came to clear my head and get some time alone. And how the heck do you _accidentally_ shoot a spell at someone?"

"Ah, Malfoy needs some introvert time—how quaint. I was practicing some new spells and techniques, you just happened to enter at the wrong second."

"Likely story..." muttered Scorpius.

"What was that, Malfoy?" asked Albus innocently.

"So what _are_ you doing up here?"

"Just like I said, I'm trying out some new things."

"Why the heck are you doing it in the middle of the night, and on the Astronomy Tower?"

"Why the heck are you clearing your head in the middle of the night, and on the Astronomy Tower?" asked Albus mockingly.

"Hey, that's different. I couldn't sleep and the fresh night air helps me think."

"I didn't know you were capable of thinking."

"You're a prat."

Albus laughed, "Yeah, yeah. I've heard it before Malfoy."

"So why have you been looking so happy all day Potter? Nothing like getting whooped by a dark wizard to make your day, eh?"

Albus's eyes gleamed as he stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight. "Something like that. Blaise Zabini is the only person who has bested me twice. I have finally found someone who can drive me to do better. For the first time in my whole life I have the will to increase my skills. _That_ is why I'm on the Astronomy Tower in the middle of the night, because the next time Zabini and I meet, _I'm_ going to be the one who wins."

"Potter, there are more important things than being the most powerful wizard out there. There is more to life. Other things that make getting out of bed in the morning worth it."

Albus snorted. "Don't start that rubbish again Malfoy. You can believe whatever you want, I'm not going to try and change that. I'm giving you that freedom, so return the favor. Let me be." Albus pushed past Scorpius to get to the door.

With one quick movement Scorpius put himself between Albus and the exit.

"What are you doing, idiot? Get out of my way," demanded Albus with annoyance.

"That's fair enough Albus." Scorpius said, referring back to their conversation, "I'll stop pushing what I believe on you. But you should think about it—just saying. Anyway, you know Zabini has Gryffindor's sword now, but we learned that he also has the bow of Ravenclaw. A few of us are going up north to try and regain Hufflepuff's axe from the dwarves. You're one of the people allowed to go, but only if you want to of course."

Albus looked up in surprise. "Really? You're not pulling my leg or something?"

"No, it's completely true."

"How did you learn all this?" asked Albus suspiciously.

"I followed the Minister of Magic and listened in on his conversation with the headmaster, the Aurors, and the professors. In the end I stepped out and asked if I could be one of the people to go. To my immense surprise professor Flitwick said yes. I then managed to get him to let you and Zoë come along. Professor Longbottom and Seamus Finnegan, the Auror, will be going with us as well."

"Excellent," Albus's eyes sparkled excitedly. "So there's a good chance we'll run into Zabini again isn't there?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Perfect," and with that, Albus shoved Scorpius to the side and left the tower.

"I'm surprised he didn't ask more questions about it...oh well, like I care."

Scorpius walked over to the parapet and leaned on it, gazing out over the grounds. A light breeze picked up, ruffling his hair. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the silence and solitude.

He was barely alone for five minutes before: "Is that you Scorpius?"

"You've got to be kidding me—" he froze mid sentence as he turned around and saw who it was.

It was Zoë, looking quite as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"What are you doing up here?" _this theme seems to be running most of the conversations_ _tonight_, thought Scorpius ruefully.

"I always come up here when I need to be alone, or I have something I need to think about. What about you, though? What are _you_ doing up here in the middle of the night?"

"Same reason...that's crazy isn't it? I wonder how we've never run into each other if we've both been coming up here for awhile."

"Yeah, crazy is definitely the right word." Zoë crossed the tower and came to lean on the parapet next to Scorpius, making his heart skip a beat.

Scorpius turned around, returning to his previous position.

"Sorry about earlier today, when I didn't really respond to how you were feeling about the situation." He looked intently at Zoe.

Zoe looked somewhat uncomfortable, and kept her gaze on the sky. "No it's fine, really, you didn't—"

"It's okay to be scared, Zoë. We all are. Zabini broke into Hogwarts so easily, and it's supposed to be one of the safest places in England...You're not alone Zoë. You have friends to back you up. We'll look after you."

Zoë looked up into his intense blue eyes, and couldn't help but believe what he was saying.

"Zoë, I hesitate to bring this up, but it's completely your choice. Nobody is going to force you to do this…" Scorpius was unsure of how she'd react to the possibility of going north.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, but with a little foreboding.

"Zabini has the sword of Gryffindor, and we learned that he also managed to get his evil hands on Ravenclaw's bow. We need to prevent him from getting Hufflepuff's axe now, so a few of us are going to go and try to get it. You're one of the people who are allowed to come along, but only if you want to," he spoke quickly, as if getting it out fast would make it easier to hear. To Scorpius's surprise, Zoë didn't take it as badly as he would have thought.

Zoë looked thoughtful for a moment. "Are you going?"

"Yes. So far it's been decided that I should go, Potter should go, and so should professor Longbottom and the Auror Seamus Finnegan."

"Then I'll go."

"Are you sure Zoë? No one would think less of you if you stayed here in the protection of the headmaster, and I'm sure the Aurors that are staying here would look after you."

"Yes, I'm sure. You can't be afraid to fight for what you believe in. I won't just stand by and let Zabini do what he likes to my country and the people I love."

Scorpius grinned at Zoë, "It looks like we'll be having one heck of an adventure together."

Zoë grinned back at Scorpius. There was just something about the way he grinned that made everyone around him want to as well.

"So, how did you figure out how to become invisible with the dagger?" asked Scorpius, curious.

"Oh it was pretty easy. I was just fiddling with it, and I was sort of _imagining _myself being invisible, and the next thing I knew, I couldn't see myself in the mirror."

"_Brilliant_," said Scorpius, sucking in his breath. Zoë blushed slightly. Scorpius always made the simplest thing sound as if it was an amazing feat. It was easy to feel good about yourself when you were around him.

Zoë looked out at the lake shimmering in the moonlight, and the trees of the Forbidden forest waving gently in the wind. "This place is so beautiful."

"As are you."

Zoë's gaze shot up to Scorpius's face in complete astonishment. He was looking into her eyes with such deep intensity that she blushed a deep crimson this time. His eyes seemed to capture her, to swallow her whole as if they would never let her go.

Before Zoë really knew what was happening, Scorpius had moved his face slowly closer to hers, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

Scorpius drew back, looking at her questioningly, searching her eyes for an answer to an unasked question.

Zoë slowly dropped her gaze. "It's really late. I think I should head to bed."

Scorpius tried to hide any emotion or disappointment in his voice. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow then, I guess."

"Goodnight," said Zoe, before turning around and exiting the tower without so much as a glance at Scorpius.

As soon as the tower door had shut behind her, Scorpius slammed his fist down on the balustrade. "How could I be so stupid? Why did I do that? Why? Why!" Scorpius switched from slamming his fist on the balustrade, to smacking the palm of his hand repeatedly into his forehead. "Right when I managed to recover things from earlier today, I had to go and do something that wrecks everything again—"

"Wreck what again?" asked a voice curiously from behind him.

Scorpius froze, his palm halfway to his forehead and his eyes wide with surprise staring out at the night sky.

Realizing how stupid he must look, Scorpius quickly whirled around only to gawk in astonishment, hardly improving how dumb he appeared.

Right in front of the tower door stood Lily. Her fiery red curls tumbling around her deep brown eyes that were looking at him curiously.

_She must have come onto the tower while I was ranting so I didn't notice. Dang it._ Scorpius managed to stop gawking, but he was still utterly surprised. _How many people come onto this tower in the middle of the darn night? I must be dreaming or something; this night is just too crazy._ "I don't suppose you always come up here to think? Or maybe you came to practice some charms?" asked Scorpius weakly.

Lily smiled a sly little smile at the corner of her lips that Scorpius didn't really like the look of. "Not exactly."

_Zoë barely left under two minutes ago. How did she happen to get up here right after she left? The insanity of this night is beyond me._

"You never answered my question, wreck what again?" asked Lily.

"Oh, nothing, that was nothing."

"It didn't _seem_ like nothing. What with those antics you were pulling." Lily took a couple steps forward, into the center of the tower. The moonlight pooled around her, giving a silver glow to the edge of her red hair, leeching all the color from her already white skin.

"Well, you know, appearances can be deceiving, Little Potter."

"At first I didn't really like you calling me that, but it's been growing on me. Now I think it's kind of cute that you have a nickname for me."

_It's been growing on her? Over the whole one whopping day it's been during which I've called her that no times? What is _with_ this girl?_

Lily took a couple more steps towards him. Her right hand was playing with a tendril of her hair, wrapping it around her finger multiple times just to let it go and start over again.

Scorpius noticed that Lily was really a lot cuter than he had ever given her credit for before, but he really wasn't in the mood to appreciate it right now.

"Um, well, that's great that you like it...what did you say you were doing up here again?" asked Scorpius nervously.

Lily took a couple more steps forward. She was now standing within a foot of him. "What does it matter? The important thing is that me, and you, are completely alone in the middle of the night, romantically on a tower of a castle under the beautiful moon." Lily took another step towards Scorpius, who, simultaneously, took a step away from her.

Taking a step back had not been the smartest move on Scorpius's part. He now had his back trapped against the parapet, and Lily was right up against him with her hands on his chest.

Lily was looking up at him with wide brown eyes that were really hard to resist.

Making a quick, unexpected move, Lily thrust her head upwards, trying to capture Scorpius's mouth with her own. Luckily, Scorpius wasn't a seeker for nothing. His hands shot forwards, giving a light shove to Lily's shoulders. It didn't push her back much, but it was just enough space for Scorpius to whip out from between her and the low tower wall.

Scorpius ran for the door and fled the tower. As the door swung shut he could have sworn he heard Lily giggling.

_There is _something _terribly, mentally, _wrong_ with those Potters._


	20. The Party Sets Off

Author's Note:

It took a little bit longer than planned to get this chapter up, but what can you do? I've been really, _really_ busy lately. Here it is, and please don't forget to review. ;)

Yours truly,

ThaniMag

Chapter 19: The Party Sets Off

The next day Scorpius went to classes as usual. Stephanie was finally out of the infirmary and spending her time with Scorpius as always. Scorpius had filled her in on all that had happened while she had been incapacitated, even the odd events that transpired on the Astronomy Tower late the night before.

Stephanie said nothing while Scorpius told her about the plan to try to get Hufflepuff's axe back. She simply sat quietly and looked at her breakfast, but when he told her about kissing Zoë on the cheek and Lily's seductive behavior she had something to say.

"You thick head!" she cried while bashing him over the head with her spoon. "You're moving too quickly, you two barely know each other!"

"Not true!" protested Scorpius while rubbing his head where Stephanie had hit him, "We know each other perfectly, decently well, and besides, I figured we could get to know each other better while being in a relationship."

Stephanie shook her head, "A girl wants to know you _before_ you leap into a relationship."

"Except for that dratted Lily Potter it seems," said Scorpius rather ruefully. "She has a screw loose, I'm telling you."

Stephanie chortled, spilling her pumpkin juice in the act. "Apparently when you saved her she developed a crush on you."

Scorpius frowned. "One day she hates my guts, the next day she's fighting with me, and then all of a suddenly she's trying to snog me, and _on the Astronomy Tower no less!_"

"I'm telling you," said Stephanie impatiently, "some girls really fall for the whole I'm-a-dashing-knight-with-blonde-hair-and-blue-eyes-come-to-save-you-from-the-boogey-man act."

"Although I'm not going to argue with the part about me being dashing, I'm not a knight, and I wouldn't have called those cloaked creeps 'the boogey men' either," Scorpius pointed out with a shudder.

Stephanie waved away his comment. "Knitty-gritty details are nobody's friend. By the way, while you were on the astronomy tower, or on the way dow,n did you see any _other_ couples snogging? I hear that particular tower is the all around favorite for Hogwart couples looking to get some action," said Stephanie, intrigued.

"Are you kidding me, Steph? All those rumors are complete nonsense. Besides, I was busy trying to avoid my own bit of action, not looking to be some type of voyeuristic school boy," said Scorpius with a snort.

"I think there's some truth behind the myths, Scorpius. Just the other day I heard Sarah talking about how Lawrence Boot was caught—" Stephanie froze mid sentence, a grin slowly growing across her face as she stared at the entrance to the Great Hall. "Look who it is."

Scorpius swiveled in his seat to get a glimpse of the person who had caught Stephanie's attention. Scanning the people by the door, he caught sight of Lily, standing with her hands on her hips and looking our across the hall.

Scorpius dove for the floor so fast that he upended his corn flakes on his head. Hiding beneath the table, he whispered up to Stephanie. "Tell me when she's gone."

Stephanie was laughing so hard she could barely talk. "You know . . . you don't have to . . . whisper, she can't hear you . . . from way over there," brief chortling intervals broke up her speech.

"Just tell me when she's gone!" Scorpius hissed.

"She's gone, she's gone." Stephanie had managed to regain control of herself.

As Scorpius reappeared over the side of the table, milk and soggy corn flakes dripping from his hair, Stephanie burst into fresh new peals of helpless laughter.

Scorpius glared at her fiercely, but instead of intimidating her into silence, this just made her chest start heaving with so much mirth that she fell off her seat.

Stephanie's display was drawing curious glances from nearby students. "How cum ya pawed ya brekfest on ya 'ed 'Copius?" asked Robert Smith, a runny-nosed Hufflepuff second year, with large curious eyes.

"I _thought_ it would look _cool_ Rob," Scorpius said, glaring at the kid. His pale hair was plastered to his head in damp tendrils that were a sickly whitish color from mixing with the milk. Pieces of soggy corn flakes rested here and there all over him.

"You look quite dangerous, Scorpius, all covered in cereal and liquid that came from a bovine's udder," Stephanie said with a twinkle in her eye as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"Oh shuttup Steph. You would have done the same thing if our situations were reversed."

"What, I would have poured my breakfast all over my head?"

"You know what I mean," Scorpius said, dropping back down into his seat. "If anyone says another word, I'll hang them from one of the Quidditch hoops."

"Blimey 'Copius, ters a corn flake in ya ear!"

"_Rooooooob!_"

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. Every time Scorpius caught sight of long, flowing red hair he would quickly turn and walk in the opposite direction. Fortunately for him, he almost always caught sight of Lily before she caught sight of him. Only once did she see him first.

Scorpius was on his way to History of Magic when he looked up to see Lily about twenty paces down the corridor. She was looking straight at him. Scorpius sucked in his breath, waiting to see what she would do. To his surprise, she turned kind of green and then whipped around and went running the other way.

Scorpius slowly let out his breath. "Did you see that? I tell you, I'll never be able to understand those Potters."

Stephanie crinkled her nose, looking in the direction Lily had run. "Yeah, I don't know, that _was_ kind of odd. Maybe she's upset you turned her down?"

Scorpius shook his head in disbelief. "There's no way anyone would give up that easily if they really had that big of a thing for someone."

"Don't flatter yourself, maybe she didn't really like you as much as we both thought."

"What I want to know is how anyone could like me less than that?" Scorpius said, blowing out his chest and trying to look impressive.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Scorp."

Scorpius didn't have any classes with Zoë today, and never saw her once. She didn't show up at any of the meals, or at least not when Scorpius was there, and he never caught sight of her in the halls. Scorpius was bright enough to not go looking for her immediately after what had happened last night. He would let it rest at least another day or two.

When Scorpius finally headed to bed, he found a message from Flitwick on his four-poster.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

You will be heading out on your trip tomorrow right after lunch. Please make sure you have your broom, a pack with several changes of comfortable clothes for traveling in, and of course your wand.

Yours truly,

Professor Flitwick

Trepidation and excitement started Scorpius's heart racing. He was soon going to be on the adventure of a lifetime! Searching through his trunk, he found his backpack. Taking it out, he hastily stuffed it with extra clothes. He then went and grabbed his broom, and placed it with his bag at the foot of his bed.

Collapsing into bed, his mind raced around in circles. What would this trip be like? What type of dangers would they run into? Would they be able to get Hufflepuff's axe from the dwarves?

Finally, Scorpius fell into a restless sleep that was broken with dreams. In the first dream he was face to face with Albus. The dark haired boy's emerald green eyes were glinting in a way Scorpius didn't like. He was holding a bow that had sapphires inlaid all along its shaft. An arrow was notched in the bow, and it was pointing directly at Scorpius's heart. Scorpius asked Albus what he was doing, but all Albus did was laugh in his face.

The image swirled away into blackness which was replaced by another scene. Scorpius was on a broom this time, and he was flying through a stormy sky. Ahead of him he could see a couple of dwarves who were also flying, but with no visible sign of support from brooms or anything of the like. One of them held a mighty battle axe above his head which was peppered with topazes all along the long handle. Scorpius asked for the axe, but the dwarves simply laughed in response. Scorpius flew at them, trying to grab the axe. The dwarves immediately turned and shot off in the other direction, Scorpius hard on their tail. Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed and struck Scorpius's broom, shattering it. Scorpius fell through the sky, his mouth open in a soundless scream.

The dream shattered like a pane of glass dropped on the floor. Another dream took its place. There was Zoë, sitting on her knees, a look of pure agony etched over her face and tears rolling down her cheeks. Stephanie walked up behind her. She was looking at Scorpius with a pained expression of betrayal and hurt. She then bent her head and gazed down at Zoë. Her face changed from betrayal to anger, maybe even hatred. Stephanie pulled out her wand and pointed it at Scorpius, just like Albus had pointed his bow. Scorpius looked at her with wide blue orbs of surprise. Stephanie narrowed her eyes, and then screamed something. A jet of light flew towards Scorpius. He took a step back, but was struck in the face.

Pain exploded through Scorpius's head and he jerked awake. He was lying on the floor, his sheets twisted around his body. He was soaked in sweat and his head was aching. He looked up, guessing he must have hit himself on the bedside table as he fell from his four-poster.

Light snores filled the room, coming from the huddled forms that were Scorpius's class mates. The soft gray light of dawn filled the room, and birds could be heard chirping outside.

Scorpius sighed as he got up and threw himself back into bed. Rolling over he settled down to try and get a couple more hours of sleep before breakfast.

After Transfiguration, Scorpius ran to his common room, gathered his broom and bag, and hurried down to lunch.

He was too nervous to feel like eating much, but he did his best, knowing that he would need his strength for the trip.

Seamus Finnegan and Neville Longbottom were missing from the head table, though Flitwick, the Minister, and the other Aurors and professors were all there. Scorpius could see Zoë sitting at the Slytherin table, but she was looking down at her plate and pushing her food around with a spoon, not eating. Albus was looking bored over at the Gryffindor table.

Stephanie didn't show up to lunch, which perplexed Scorpius. He had told her earlier that day about the message. She had given him a quick hug, and then without saying anything, she had rushed off. Scorpius had thought it was rather odd behavior, but he wasn't going to sit and ponder it.

Finally Flitwick stood up, gave Scorpius, Albus and Zoë each a meaningful look, and exited the hall.

Scorpius snatched his bag and broom with anticipation and rushed out of the dining area. He found Flitwick, Neville and Seamus just outside of the castle, waiting for the teenagers.

Neville and Seamus were both wearing a pack on their back, and had brooms in their hands. Albus and Zoë came out behind Scorpius, both with broomsticks and bags as well.

Neville inspected the trio of students up and down. Satisfied, he crossed his arms. "So all of you want to come." It was a statement, not a question. Nonetheless, they all nodded their heads in affirmation. "It will be dangerous, quite life threatening, one of us could die," Neville said it as if he was talking about the weather.

Seamus was smiling slightly, his eyes twinkling as he looked at the three of them standing there: Scorpius and Zoë seeming nervous but determined, Albus with his eyes gleaming but still managing to look somewhat bored.

"We've got the tents and the rations, so no need to worry there. We'll be traveling on brooms the entire way, so it'll take a few days. It'll be a lot of flying, so be prepared. For the first couple of hours we should be fine, but then we'll need to stop and cast an illusion charm over us. We don't want any Muggles seeing us, so with the help of this nifty spell, they'll just think we're rather large birds flying by. I think that's most of what I have to say for now. We don't want to get separated, so stick close together. You should think over again whether or not you really want to come. It will be a long trip, and once we start, you can't just bale out. You'll need to see it through to the end."

One by one, Neville looked them each steadily in the eye. After he had finished, he mounted his broom. "Any words you would like to say, headmaster?"

Flitwick was looking over the trio with a smile on his face. "Just good luck, and that we're counting on you, but I know you will do well. Miss Dursley, you have the dagger, yes?"

"Yes headmaster, right here," she patted the pack that was slung over one shoulder. Flitwick nodded in approval.

"I would like a quick word with Mr. Malfoy," said Flitwick, smiling pleasantly at Scorpius.

"Of course," Neville said, surprised.

Flitwick quickly took Scorpius aside, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Listen Scorpius, it is crucial that you do not lose heart, no matter what may happen."

"Wha— why are you telling _me_ this, headmaster?"

Flitwick looked seriously into Scorpius's sapphire irises. "Always encourage the others Scorpius, they will need it on this journey, and you are the best source to offer it."

"Yes professor, I'll do my best," Scorpius said, confused.

"Good," Flitwick said, immediately smiling and becoming less serious once more. "I'm counting on you Scorpius, even more than the others. I believe in you."

Scorpius stared down at the little headmaster, completely speechless. _Why would he count more on _me _of all people__?_

"Very well, off you go!" cried Flitwick cheerily, giving Scorpius a large wink.

The others were already mounted on their brooms and waiting for him. Zoë was looking at him curiously as he came back and leapt onto his Magnum 300, the fastest broom model to date.

Together the five brooms rose into the air and sped off, with Flitwick watching them go from the ground. No one noticed the figure hiding unobserved in the bushes nearby.


	21. The Unexpected Additions

Chapter 20: The Unexpected Additions

Their first day of travel was uneventful. They flew until midnight with only a few stops for quick refreshments. Neville lead the way, with the three teenagers following side by side. Seamus brought up the rear.

Scorpius loved to fly, and this was no exception–for the first few hours at least. By that time his limbs were getting stiff, and the constant rush of wind was starting to hurt his ears and chill him to the bone. He was able to fix the latter problem by casting a simple wind-breaking charm at the tip of his broom, but there was no cure for his legs, arms and hands. Thankfully, he could stretch at their occasional stops, but these few brief treats were never long enough.

When they finally were allowed to stop for the night, the young trio stumbled off their brooms gratefully. Even Neville looked exhausted. Seamus was the only one who seemed like he could have kept going. _Well, he is an Auror_, mused Scorpius.

After eating a brief dinner of cold sandwiches, during which the students could barely hold their heads up, they all tumbled into their sleeping bags. "I'll take first watch," said the perky eyed Seamus. The only thing Scorpius could think before he fell asleep was how grateful he was that it wasn't him who'd have to stay up longer right away.

Sometime later Scorpius awoke to the feeling that he was being watched. Rolling over in his sleeping bag, he caught Zoë staring at him from her post where she sat with her back against a tree, keeping watch. She quickly turned her eyes away when Scorpius looked at her. He would have liked to talk to her, but he was too tired, and he knew he would need his strength for tomorrow. Turning over once more, he went back to sleep.

The next time Scorpius woke, it was to Albus poking him with his boot. Albus was looking at him as if he were something nasty he'd found in his breakfast. "Get up, pillock. It's your turn to watch." In irritation Scorpius grabbed the foot Albus had been hitting him with, and jerked the boy off his feet. Albus hit the ground with a thud.

To Scorpius's surprise, Albus didn't do anything to him in return. He just shot him an irritable look, and then crawled into his sleeping bag. Scorpius figured he must be too tired to start a fight.

Scorpius got to his feet and looked around. He had been so exhausted when they had landed that he hadn't noticed their surroundings. They were in a very small clearing in the middle of the woods. The moon shone down and spilled a milky light over the huddled, sleeping forms in their sleeping bags. Scorpius walked over to a tree and sat down, leaning his back against the uneven surface like he had seen Zoë do earlier, and tried to get comfortable. _Fat chance of any comfort here_. He sighed in annoyance.

Settling himself in, he waited for the dawn.

When Scorpius woke the others up, they packed quickly and got ready to go. It was early, and there was a cold bite to the air. It was on its way to winter after all. Scorpius grabbed a heavy sweater from his bag, and pulled it on before mounting his broom.

Neville gave a nod, and then they shot off into the brightening sky. They flew in the same formation as before, with Seamus bringing up the rear. The day passed uneventfully, with several stretching stops just as the day before. When they finally came down for the night, Neville built a fire and cooked beans to go with their sandwiches and some dried fruit. He pulled all the utensils out of his bag, which, being magical, could carry infinitely more than it seemed to from the outside. Which was very useful with all the sleeping bags they had brought. Once more exhausted, they tumbled into bed.

On the third night they were sitting around eating their dinner, when there was the distinct sound of a cracking twig nearby.

Seamus's alert Auror eyes snapped up, gazing at the surrounding trees. It was already dark, so nothing could be seen beyond the ring of moonlight illuminating the meadow they were camped in. Putting his dinner down, he held a finger to his lips as he drew his wand. The rest of them followed suit, arming themselves for whatever was to come.

Seamus made a quick motion with his wand, and a figure came stumbling out of the underbrush into the light. His brown hair stood out wildly around his head, with many twigs stuck in the unruly locks. In one hand was a broom; on his back was a bag.

Albus swore. Seamus, Zoë and Scorpius just gaped. It was Neville who spoke. "Hugo Weasley, what _are_ you doing here?"

And indeed it was. It was Albus's cousin, the young fourteen-year-old son of Hermione and Ron.

The boy bit his lip stubbornly, "Well I followed you, _duh_."

Neville sighed, "I didn't ask how you got here, I asked what you're doing here."

"I wanted to go on an adventure as well."

"Hugo, you're too young. Go back to Hogwarts, kid," Albus said, his voice like ice.

Hugo set his jaw in defiance. "You wouldn't have stayed at school if it was you, and you wouldn't go back now."

"Yeah, but you're not _me_, you're just you, little Hugo Weasley." Albus was angry.

Hugo was angry too. "It wasn't even my idea! I got talked into this!" he yelled in Albus's face. Turning around, he spoke to the trees, "Get out here! I'm not taking the blame for your stupid escapades."

A couple of seconds later, Stephanie and Lily emerged, looking rather sheepish.

Albus swore again, louder than before. Everyone else just gawked some more.

Neville rubbed his eyes wearily. "Explain yourselves."

Stephanie stepped forwards. "We didn't see why all our friends should get to go retrieve Hufflepuff's axe, but not us."

"Well that's simple," Albus began, his green eyes like chips of emerald, "you're all too young, too stupid, not skilled enough, and _clearly_," he said in disgust, looking the three intruders up and down, "too rash."

Stephanie's cheeks glowed red, but with anger not embarrassment. "You twit, I'm as old as you. Stop talking like you're all high and mighty. You're just any ordinary student at Hogwarts."

_Leave it to Stephanie to stand up to Albus_, thought Scorpius with a hint of pride.

Albus took a step closer to Stephanie, so that he was standing only a couple of inches from her, but she didn't back down. "I think you missed the news the last sixteen years, girl, because they call me the prodigy of the century." His voice was low and dangerous.

Before Stephanie could reply he turned away from her, whirling on his sister. "And _you_! _What_ do you think you're doing?" he hissed between his teeth. "Just like in the fight club, you're going to be in way over your head. You can't duel at our level. If we're attacked, you're just going to have to be protected. You'll endanger all of us." Lily looked as if she was going to cry, hearing this from her older brother. For once Scorpius felt sorry for her.

"That's _enough_, Albus." Neville said firmly. He looked very grave. "I'm going to have a quick talk with Seamus. The rest of you will sit here and not move a muscle, understood?"

All the heads nodded in agreement.

Scorpius went up to Stephanie. "Why did you come, Steph?"

"Because, you always get to go on these great adventures, but I never get the chance. I figured no one would ever let me come willingly, so I talked to Lily, who wanted to come as well. She overheard you talking to Zoë about it on the Astronomy Tower. Together we got Hugo, and here we are."

Scorpius shook his head. "You shouldn't have come. Steph, this is a big deal, it's dangerous, and all of England is counting on us."

"So, what are you saying? You don't think I'm good enough for this? You want me to go back?"

"I think that would be best, yes."

Stephanie took a step back, away from him. Betrayal and hurt flashed across her face, and with a pang Scorpius remembered his dream. "Wait, Steph."

Shaking her head, she went over and sat next to Zoë.

Scorpius looked around. Neville and Seamus were having a hurried discussion just out of hearing distance. Stephanie and Zoë were sitting side by side. Albus was talking in a low, angry voice with Hugo. Lily sat by herself, her back up against a tree, her knees drawn up to her chest and her head resting on her arms.

The urge to comfort Lily overcame Scorpius's initial instinct to keep his distance. Walking over, he sat down next to her, tapping her on the arm. Lily looked up, and turned furiously red.

"Look Lily, your brother didn't mean any of those things he said."

"Oh yeah?" she asked bitterly, "You don't know my brother like I do; he meant every word."

Scorpius shook his head. "He just wants to protect you. He's looking after you like an older brother should."

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "Albus never says anything but the truth. It's one of the best, and worst, things about him."

Scorpius thought about it a little, and then spoke slowly, "Maybe those things have a partial bit of truth to them, but I'm sure he only said them 'cause he's scared for you. He probably figured it was better if you were safe, even if you had to hear some painful things."

Lily looked at him with emotions in her eyes that he couldn't quite place. One looked like gratitude, maybe?

Lily turned her eyes downward, and spoke quietly. "I wanted to apologize for what happened on the Astronomy Tower."

Scorpius looked at her in surprise.

"I honestly don't know what came over me. I'm not normally like that. I'm really sorry that I put you through that childish display."

Scorpius wanted to point out that he didn't think kids were the ones normally putting on displays like that, but he kept his mouth shut.

"It won't happen again, but don't expect me to give you any more of an apology than this, and if I hear even a _whisper_ about it at school, I'll hex you into a pile of goop." She looked him in the eyes, and her expression was fierce. "I don't like being made a fool of."

Scorpius felt like laughing. Lily was definitely an odd one, and very sassy too, to be threatening him.

"Okay Little Potter. I won't go shouting the news."

"Good," Lily said. When she looked up she noticed Neville and Seamus gazing at her anxiously. "Do you think they'll let us come along?"

Scorpius looked up at them as well. "Hard to say, really. I'm not sure they think it's the best idea to have you along, but they're probably also worried about sending you all the way back to Hogwarts alone."

Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust. "As if I couldn't take care of myself perfectly well. I'm better than half the seventh years in the school."

Scorpius snorted. Lily looked at him coolly. "What?" Lily demanded.

"Well, the Potter arrogance is definitely genetic."

"Well, we have plenty of reasons to be arrogant. Isn't the lion arrogant about being the king of the beasts?"

Scorpius choked. "Now you're a lion? Do note that you'd be a lioness and they're just part of a huge harem."

Lily gave Scorpius a look that made him want to sink into the ground. "Ever say I'm part of a harem again, and you'll get more than just a cold look."

_One minute she looks torn apart and in need of comfort, the next she's the ice queen again_, though Scorpius in wonder. _I really do not understand these Potters._

Seamus and Neville chose that minute to return. "Okay," Neville began, "we can't take you back ourselves, because we'd lose too much time, but we can't let you go alone, so you're going to have join the group, even though we're not thrilled about that idea either."

Hugo, Stephanie and Lily all seemed suddenly much perkier.

"I hope you realize what an inconvenience and hassle you're making this. This group was specifically chosen for this journey, and this is no silly game we're playing here. I must say I'm rather disappointed in your judgment. Although," and here Scorpius could almost swear he saw a smile, "it's clear you are your parents children, that's for sure. Now, to bed! We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow, and I don't intend to slow down just because there are more of us.

"And don't think you'll get off easy! You three will be doing plenty of watch duty, as well as some cooking, perhaps."

Hugo groaned audibly.

"Something to say, Hugo?" asked Neville with raised eyebrows. That shut the kid up.

As Scorpius crawled into his sleeping bag, he wasn't quite sure if he was happy, or reluctant that his schoolmates were along. Albus, on the other hand, was definitely perturbed.

The next morning they were off and flying early, just like before. Hugo and the three girls flew side by side in the middle of the crew. Albus flew up in front with Neville, and Scorpius flew in the back with Seamus.

That night they camped in an open field, with their backs up against a hill to provide some shelter. Nobody talked much during dinner and then everyone quickly clambered into their sleeping packs.

After his turn at watch, Scorpius woke Zoë. Crawling out of her sleeping bag, Zoë clambered part way up the hill and sat down.

Scorpius turned to go to his sleeping bag, then hesitated, and climbed up after Zoë. _Even if I'm exhausted tomorrow, it'll be worth it if I get things worked out with Zoë. Everything has a price, this one just appears to be sleep_. Scorpius thought to himself.

"Hey," Scorpius said, plopping himself down beside her.

"Hey."

Scorpius decided to cut straight to the chase. "I'm sorry about what happened..." He paused and shook his head. "Never mind, not what _happened_, what I _did_, on the Astronomy Tower. I shouldn't have kissed you; it wasn't my place. We don't even know each other that well yet, and I really didn't have a clue if it was something you'd want. I shouldn't have done it, and I'm sorry." He looked down at his feet as he said it. He was too scared to look Zoë in the face.

There were several moments of silence which seemed to stretch on and on for the nervous blonde teenager, but eventually Zoë spoke. "The thing is, I've never really had any friends. You're the first real friend I've had, and now Stephanie as well. I don't want to ruin our friendship over something stupid. That's why I didn't respond on the tower."

Scorpius looked up at Zoë, but she was looking out over the field where they were camped. It was a new moon, and the stars had just come out. They sparkled like diamonds in the vast dark rock that was the night sky.

"Okay, I understand. So we're still friends? We're cool, right?" Scorpius asked, too happy about still having Zoë around to care that she had turned him down.

"Yeah, of course." She turned her head and looked at him, but it was too dark to see much of her face except the outline and the faintness of her skin.

Zoë looked at Scorpius and smiled. His blonde hair stood out, even in the darkness, and she could see the glimmer of his bright blue eyes.

Scorpius stood up, stretching his arms. "Well, I think I'll head to bed. I want to be rested for tomorrow."

"Of course. Thanks for coming and sorting things out."

"I would never give up our on our friendship just because I did something stupid." He couldn't see it, but Zoë blushed in the darkness at his words.

Slowly working his way down the hill, Scorpius slid quickly into his sleeping bag.

Zoë watched him go with a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips. Scorpius was one of a kind.

The next day they got up before dawn. They flew hard and fast, and by noon, they had arrived.

**Author's Note:**

**Just a reminder to review on your thoughts. And also a thank you to all of you ****that**** consistently keep reviewing, it really helps.**


	22. Meeting the Dwarves

Author's Note:

Dwarves are one thing that Rowling never spent much time on in the Harry Potter series, so I had free reign with describing them how I would like. I hope you enjoy my version of Harry Potter Dwarves.

~ThaniMag

Chapter 21: Meeting the Dwarves

Following Neville's signal, they shot towards the ground. Eight blurs of color, whipping through the air like arrows.

Scorpius and Albus zipped straight through the boughs of the trees and made abrupt, smooth stops, dismounting their brooms easily. Hugo attempted to follow their example; however, he was not quite as skilled as the two older wizards, and ended up crashing into the ground and throwing himself from his broom.

Albus looked at his cousin with open disgust. Scorpius, however, merely held out his hand to the younger boy. "Hey, Weasley, you want to make sure you give yourself as much time as you need to stop, depending on how fast you're going. There your mistake was simply not pulling up soon enough."

Hugo took the proffered hand, and got pulled to his feet. "Thanks Malfoy, I'll keep that in mind," Hugo said, brushing a few twigs and leaves from his clothes.

Scorpius waited until the rest of the group had landed before asking his question. "So what are we stopping here for?"

"This is where we leave our friends Lily, Hugo, and Miss Bones–for the time being," Neville answered.

"What? No!" Lily said. "I'm not staying here."

"Lily, you will stay here of your own free will, or I will magically bind you here," Neville said. "It's the same for you two," he turned on Stephanie and Hugo. Stephanie looked like she wanted to protest; Hugo merely looked content. "There will be no argument. You're all lucky I let you come with us this far. You _are_ staying here. No more words about it." Neville looked hard at each of them one-by-one.

Stephanie stood with her jaw jutting out in defiance. Lily looked like she was pouting. Hugo just shrugged.

"I'll make sure you guys have all the provisions you need. Now, for a bit of magic." Neville quickly cast a disillusionment charm over the three that would be staying behind.

"What's that for?" Scorpius asked.

"The dwarves have likely detected our presence already, but probably not how many of us there are. I don't want them coming out here and finding these three once we leave them. The disillusionment charm will hide them, and the dwarves won't realized that we left some of our group behind."

"Ah, I see."

Albus snorted, "Yeah, once it's shoved in your face."

"There's no need for that," Seamus said, leaning against a tree and twiddling his thumbs.

Neville gave Stephanie the food and camping utilities the trio would need. After getting them to grudgingly agree to stay put, Neville and the remaining crew took to the air once more.

They flew only a short distance before landing again. "We're here," Neville said.

"Don't hold it against me if I'm not jumping up and down with excitement," Albus said, arms crossed. "But this is hardly what I pictured."

They were standing side-by-side, surrounded by sheer mountain walls on three sides. Only the forest at their backs prevented them from being completely hemmed in by unclimbable cliff faces.

"Where exactly is 'here' anyway?" Albus asked.

"The entrance to the Dwarf Kingdom, said Neville. "Or _one_ of the entrances. At least, we should be _near_ one of the entrances. I think. There's no way to really be sure, because nobody's attempted to contact the dwarves since they locked themselves up so long ago. Every once in awhile some will come above ground to us, but nobody has ever gone to them. Not since the issue with the Founders, I mean. The only thing we really know is that the dwarves are based somewhere in this mountain range."

"I don't want to put a damper on things," Albus said, flicking his dark bangs out of his eyes, "but if we don't know where an entrance is, how exactly are we supposed to _get in_?"

"We wait, and hope the dwarves show up and take us down. They'll know we're here already, but whether they'll actually come up to get us—who knows?" Neville shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, this sounds like a whopping _great _plan. Let's wait around and hope these little midget men that hate us come up and take us down into their sacred and secret kingdom. That's sure to work out well." Albus's voice dripped sarcasm. "And in the mean time, Malfoy will have become Minister of Magic. This is great, just great. This is a prime example of what happens when a Gryffindor comes up with a plan. The Ravenclaw should always be the one making the plan. _Always_." Albus shook his head as he threw off his pack and lay down on the grass, using his backpack as a pillow.

Neville pointedly ignored the Albus's comments, and made himself comfortable on a boulder.

They didn't have to wait long.

Suddenly they were surrounded by a score of dwarves, having materialized, it seemed, from the boulders, the trees, and the air itself. They were short (standing about three feet tall), hairy, and armed with either short swords or crossbows. They were wearing simple outfits made of leather.

Scorpius went for his wand, but Seamus halted the teenager by grabbing his wrist.

A dwarf with a thin silver headband stepped forwards. The dwarf looked each one of them up and down, inspecting them. "What are the likes of you doing here?" asked the dwarf in a gruff voice.

"We wish an audience with the king," Seamus said, taking charge of negotiations.

The dwarf let out a short bark of laughter. "You have some nerve, showing up here and demanding an audience with our king. But you're in luck: for some reason he asked for us to admit you. I can't imagine why, but it's not my place to question the king's choices."

The dwarves formed a ring around the group of wizards. They ushered them towards a corner where two cliff faces met. Scorpius could hear Albus muttering under his breath, "Pure, blind luck... that's all this is."

There was a large bush in the corner, but one of the dwarves grabbed it and moved it out of the way, revealing a large door in the ground. The first five dwarves leapt in, followed by their leader, who motioned for the wizards to follow.

Albus stood and stared in disbelief. "You're showing us the entrance to your kingdom just like that? No blindfolds or anything?"

The dwarf leader snorted. "Ignorant wizard kids these days...we don't need to blindfold you. Our magic protects us; you won't be able to find this entrance again. Besides, you'd never be able to figure your way around our kingdom: you would get hopelessly lost."

They were underground now, in a tunnel. It was low, and all the humans had to stoop. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the passageway were made of solid rock–the tunnel must have been hewed directly out of the mountain. It was surprisingly warm, yet didn't feel stuffy despite the lack of fresh air.

They followed their dwarf escorts down the path. Along the way many other entrances could be seen leading off the main branch which they seemed to be traveling. There were brackets along the way that held torches of purple flame. The travelers went on and on, deeper into the mountain, deeper under ground. Eventually the dwarves lead them off the main trek and down another tunnel, and then into another, and another–ever continuing on.

Scorpius felt increasingly claustrophobic, and his back was starting to ache from bending over. He figured that this was what the dwarves wanted–serious discomfort for anyone besides themselves. Scorpius craned his neck to see the dwarf behind him. Completely upright, he seemed gleefully happy with Scorpius's clear difficulties.

Directly ahead of him, Scorpius could hear Albus swearing softly beneath his breath. "Hey Potter, we almost to wherever we're going?" Scorpius asked.

Albus's muffled and irritated voice came back, "Hell if I know, I can't see anything but Finnegan's overly large buttocks."

"And you wouldn't be able to see anything but my fist in your pretty little face if I could actually move any direction but straight ahead." Scorpius could barely hear Seamus's voice from up ahead.

"Oooh, touché, touché, Auror," Albus responded.

There was a muffled cry from Albus, and a chorus of laughter from Seamus. Scorpius attempted to see around Albus's body to what was going on ahead, but couldn't make anything out.

"That was—_disgusting. _I'm never going to be the same again after tasting Irish butt-cheeks." Albus sounded quite thoroughly horrified. Seamus laughed again.

"When we get out of here Finnegan..." Albus trailed off as the tunnel suddenly broadened, the ceiling got higher, and they came out into a large cavernous hall.

Every inch of wall was covered in grand tapestries, weaponry, and what looked like spoils of war. A dragon head was pegged on one wall, right next to a grand weaving of a dwarven feast. Across from it hung a massive double-bladed sword that Scorpius couldn't imagine being carried by a dwarf. In another spot Scorpius could see what looked like a stuffed hippogriff. It went on and on, no end to the decor. In the center of the hall were several massive, long tables. Closed chests were stacked against the walls in piles. Down at the far end of the room was a large stone throne inlaid with all sizes of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and topazes. On the throne sat a dwarf with flowing silver hair that was in hundreds of little braids. He wore a grand cloak of fur and was covered in jewelry. Behind the throne, set _into_ the wall, was the axe of Hufflepuff.

It was a large, double-bladed axe with a long shaft set with golden topazes up and down its length. Its blade gleamed dangerously, untarnished by the years.

The dwarf on the throne, who was obviously the king, was surrounded by about fifteen other dwarves. Some wore splendid robes like the king, but others were clearly bodyguards, armed to the teeth and wearing the simple leather outfits that the human's escorts were wearing.

The king peered at them from his spot on the throne. "Bring them closer, Brishnak." The king's voice boomed across the hall, strong and powerful.

The leader of their escort ushered them forward, bringing the rest of his dwarves with them. Once they were within twenty feet of the throne, the king held up his hand for them to halt. He looked each of them up and down in turn, his eyes dark and beady. Scorpius couldn't be sure, but it seemed that the king's gaze rested on Zoë longer than anyone else, and that the dwarf looked almost _hungrily_ at her.

"So," the dwarf king said gruffly, "what are the likes of _you_, doing _here_?" His voice seemed to imply that the likes of humans was worse than trash, and his precious kingdom, it would seem, was not used to having junk around.

"My lord, we come seeking aid." Neville spoke formally and firmly. "You know very well that long ago your people forged a deal with four very powerful witches and wizards. Unfortunately, through no fault of those standing here, the deal went awry. Well, now the past has come to haunt us. An evil wizard has gotten his hands on two of those great weapons. He plans to make all of England bow to his will. You know the power of those items, forged by wizards and dwarves together. Without the remaining two we cannot hope to defeat him. We have one, but we humbly ask for the other."

The king's eyes gleamed dangerously. There were murmurs of anger from the dwarves who were present. "You presume to come here, after what happened in our mutual pasts, and ask us for the last weapon? You took what was rightfully ours, and now you would dare to ask for more?" The dwarf king's voice was low, furious. "And why," he spat, "should we concern ourselves with what happens to England? This man will not be able to touch us. We are too far below ground, too hidden, and too powerful!"

"What affects England will also affect you, no matter how discreet you think you are. This wizard's reach is far. He will not stop until he has gathered everything possible under him. Not even you will remain untouched."

The king's laugh was harsh, almost a bark. "What do we stand to gain from this? A loss of a great family heirloom—for what? Empty promises that you will defeat someone who may or may not bother us? And why should we trust your oaths when you stabbed us in the back before, human? Besides, you humans are too weak to destroy anyone. Even if this man you speak of managed to overcome you, he wouldn't stand a chance against the mighty dwarves!" The hall was filled with clanging and yelling as the dwarves cheered for their king and his speech. The king was on his feet now, trembling with long pent up anger

"Dear king," Neville spoke calmly, trying to calm the dwarf. "Why don't we put behind us what happened between our ancestors?"

"_Ancestors_?" bellowed the king, "That was my father you tricked! We dwarves live long and we _never_ forget old grievances. You tricked us, _deceived _us! We cannot overlook that!"

"King, what if I swore on my life, and on my country, that once we defeated this evil man we would return, not only the axe, but also the dagger of Slytherin—that which was stolen from you all those years ago?" Zoë tensed at this new deal she had not heard of before.

The king snorted. "And what if this man defeats you? Then I gain nothing, and I lose the precious axe. It does not matter anyway," said the dwarf king, waving it away, "for why bargain for something you can get for nothing?" The king smiled grimly. "The girl has it, take it!" he yelled, pointing straight at Zoë.

The hall had remained relatively still during the exchange between Neville and the king, but now the whole scene exploded.

Everyone launched into motion at the same time.

"Zoë, the dagger!" Neville yelled, chucking himself in front of her as she scrabbled at the pack for the knife.

Brishnak and his men charged forward, trying to grab Zoë.

Albus and Seamus already had their wands in their hands, and were firing off spells at their attackers.

The dwarf king had whipped around, and now held the axe of Hufflepuff in his hands, looking dangerous and quite capable of decapitating some heads.

Brishnak dodged under a hex from Neville, and threw himself at Zoë who, in her nervousness, had not managed to get to the dagger yet. Suddenly Scorpius was there, slamming himself into Brishnak and wrapping himself around the dwarf's short, solid body. Brishnak managed to get his burly arms around Scorpius's shoulders, throwing the young boy into a large stone chest with bone cracking force.

Stars blossomed in front of Scorpius's eyes. He could see a blur of moving figures and hear yelling and screaming. He thought he could make out Albus's lean figure wrestling with one of the dwarf guards. Just before everything went black, he saw Brishnak lunge for Zoë as she pulled her dagger from her pack—and vanished.

As he sunk into the darkness, Scorpius thought he could hear the dwarf king screaming in terrible, wrathful fury.


	23. Locked in a Prison Cell

Author's Note:

We are finally on the slippery downward slope to completion. All the chapters are now written and just going through editing, so bare with.

Chapter 22: Locked in a Prison Cell

Draco leaned nonchalantly against the wall. It was evening, and long shadows were cast across the floor. Little chips of sunlight came through the windows set in one of the walls. Standing there, at ease, with his arms hanging by his sides, he could have been his son. They both had the same lean, athletic build, the same silky blond hair, and their eyes were a matching color.

But yet, despite the similarities, Draco's eyes lacked the determination, the sparkle, the capturing quality, the _heart_ that his son's had. Scorpius's father had the eyes of someone who had seen many terrible things, the eyes of someone filled with regret, the eyes of someone ready to give up.

Draco looked around. The headmaster's office at Hogwarts had changed since his days as a schoolboy. When Dumbledore had been the top man the office had been full of odd, quirky devices, sweets, and furniture. _Even a funky bird for crying out loud_, thought Draco, bemused. But now that the office was Flitwick's, the room looked liked any old scholar's room, full of books.

The door swung open, and Draco stood up hastily.

It was Flitwick, followed by Potter and his wife.

"Hey Malfoy, good to see you again." Harry said with complete sincerity. Green eyes locked with blue, as they had so many times before, but without hostility.

"Hallo Potter," Draco held out his hand. "Hallo Mrs. Potter," he threw a nod in Ginny's direction. "I hope I'm not stepping out of line by saying you look quite chipper for someone who's been in prison for awhile." It was true. Harry looked quite as healthy as always, his green eyes full of life and vigor behind the glasses.

"Yeah, let's just say when you happen to be me, people treat you well even if they're holding you against your will." Harry shrugged as he took Draco's hand, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Professor," Draco said with a curt nod to Flitwick.

"Malfoy," Flitwick inclined his head. "Please take a seat, all of you." Flitwick waved his hand and suddenly there were three comfortable looking armchairs in front of the desk. The headmaster took his usual place in the seat behind his work table.

"So, what's this about?" Draco asked, getting straight to business.

"Well," Ginny cleared her throat, "We've learned of a large group of centaurs and giants massing in Wales. This army gets larger by the day. We think that Zabini is behind it, and that he plans to start a war just like the one that took place in the time of the Founders."

"So what does that have to do with me?" Draco asked, a sinking feeling in his chest.

"Well," Ginny paused and looked at her husband. Harry nodded in support. "We need to know more about what's going on, need someone to get closer and get more information."

"And that's me." Draco sighed. He wasn't about to start jumping up and down at the chance to take a mission that would put him in close proximity to the strongest dark wizard since Voldemort . . . perhaps even further back.

"Yes, but you won't be by yourself. Harry is going to go with you." Draco looked up, startled. "We figure if you two can get into their camp and mingle somehow, Harry might be able to talk them out of starting a war. It's a slim chance, but we need to take it."

Draco wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt better knowing that Harry would be with him.

"I don't suppose it'd do any good to ask you to give this task to someone else?" Draco asked, a little rueful.

"Nope, not really. After all, you're an Auror, and you follow me. I think this task is better suited to you than anyone else we have available. We need you for this Malfoy."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Like you just said, I don't really have a choice." Draco said as he got to his feet. "Are we done here?"

"Yes Malfoy."

Draco turned to go, but suddenly reeled back to face Flitwick who was sitting calmly with his hands clasped across his stomach. "One more thing: I want to know why you sent my son with Finnegan and the rest of them who went north. What possible reasoning could you have?"

Ginny looked like she wanted to ask that question about her own son as well, but she kept her mouth closed.

"Draco, your son is perhaps the most important key to this whole situation: the negotiation with the Dwarves and the battle against Zabini."

Draco's forehead wrinkled in confusion and disbelief. "I just don't see how. He has no extraordinary talents whatsoever. He blends in perfectly with a crowd of teenage kids. Nothing makes him noticeable."

Flitwick shook his head. "As all three of you know," he acknowledged Ginny and Harry, "young Albus has much, much talent. But Albus lacks drive, heart, the _want_ to accomplish anything. Scorpius, on the other hand, is comparatively average in his skill level, but he has drive and determination. He will work hard to get what he wants, and that will take him far in life.

"But why did you send him up north? How far can determination actually get him, especially in this situation?" Draco asked.

"Him alone? Fairly far, I would guess, but the real question is: how far will his determination get the rest of them? I have a distinct feeling that Scorpius will be the one to wake Albus from his–shall we call it dormant?–state. Albus is a major key, but as he is now, I do not know how much he will be able to accomplish. Scorpius will also be able to push Zoë—who is with them—to more than she has ever done on her own. I would hazard a guess that those three—not those of us with all the experience and wisdom—are going to be the ones that save us from Zabini's dark plans. There is no telling how much Scorpius's heart and spirit will impact those around him. We can only wait and see."

Far away to the north, and deep below ground:

Blackness and confusion. Pain. Scorpius opened his eyes and saw nothing. He wondered if he could still be unconscious. Everything seemed exactly as dark as before. But slowly, as his eyes adjusted, he could make out the vague shape of a figure sitting by him.

Scorpius pulled himself into a sitting position, letting out a yell of pain as he did so. His head felt as if golf balls were shooting around inside it and bouncing off the sides.

"Oh shut _up_, won't you?" hissed an irritated voice. Scorpius realized it had come from the dark shape near him.

The figure moved slightly. The sound of metal clinking against metal echoed softly. Scorpius could make out a head of unruly hair and a lean body that sat against a wall with legs spread out in front of it. Albus.

They seemed to be in a very small room. A prison cell? There was a wall directly behind Scorpius, and the wall to his right and left were both within arms' reach. A door was set in the far wall. A light—the purple hue that the dwarves seemed to use—filtered in through a small window high up in the large slab of wood that was the only entrance or exit to the room. Metal cuffs were around Scorpius's wrists. They were linked by a chain to the stone wall behind him. Albus was also cuffed.

"Well, this is great. Not exactly the plan, but we'll get out of this somehow," Scorpius said, trying to be cheerful.

"Cut the happy crap, Malfoy. I'm tired of it." Albus clearly was not in the mood to try and make the best of things.

Scorpius was flooded with anger. "No, you cut the crap, Potter. I'm so sick of your little 'I'm-a-depressed-and-very-angst-ridden-teenager-who's-always-a-pessimist-and-can't-see-anything-good-anywhere' junk. The mind is a powerful tool, Potter. With it you can make something seem terrible, or something seem good. I'm finished with listening to you make the worst of everything. I don't care if my head feels like it'll go _kaboom_ anytime, I don't care that we're supposed to be on the same side, and I don't care that I'm cuffed to the wall. Keep carrying on and I _will_ stuff your head up your obnoxious arse." Scorpius was breathing as heavily as if he had just run a mile. His eyes had adjusted further, and he could see Albus looking at him with wide and surprised eyes.

"Then I have a question to ask," Albus began finally, "how can we make this seem good?" He waved his hand around as if to indicate the whole situation.

"Well, we can be thankful we're alive for one thing," Scorpius said sharply.

"Huh, I guess that's true. Leave it to you to think about that fact when in a position like this."

"Is that a bad thing?" Scorpius asked, annoyed.

"No, guess not." Albus said, being more generous than usual.

"What happened to the others?"

"I don't know. We were all dragged off in different directions. They could be anywhere." Neither of them mentioned that they could very well be dead.

They were silent for a while, Albus looking down at the floor, Scorpius looking at Albus. The boy's dark locks fell forward, concealing part of his expression. Since Albus was sitting at a ninety degree angle from Scorpius, and the light came from the door across from Scorpius, Albus's profile lit up with a purplish tint, making his skin look as if it was glowing.

Scorpius decided to break the silence. To get Albus's attention, he stretched his leg out, kicked Albus gently in the thigh, and leapt back against the wall with wide, startled eyes as Albus let out a yell of agony and grabbed his thigh as he peeled over onto his side. Scorpius noticed that Albus's leg seemed to be wrapped with a piece of cloth torn from the cloak he wore.

"Whoa, I'm sorry Albus! What happened?" Scorpius leaned forward as far as he could and helped Albus back into a sitting position.

"I'm okay. I just got slashed by one of those dwarf guards. It was a hand to hand fight, I started winning, and he resorted to dirty tactics. Filthy bast–" Albus looked at Scorpius quickly, and for some reason decided not to finish the word.

"Sorry about that," Scorpius said.

"Nah it's okay, really." Albus was being nicer than he had ever been to Scorpius before.

They relapsed into silence, and this time Albus was the one to break it. "Malfoy—" Scorpius looked up, but Albus was staring down at his hands which were curled in his lap. "Why do you believe in other people so much? Why do you give so much to them? What has anyone ever done for you that deserves that much response?"

"Stephanie, my dad, my mom—they've all given their all to me, their everything. You can't do more than that." Scorpius looked intently at Albus's bent head.

"Three people? Three people have given their lives to you, and in return you give _your_ everything to everyone else. Why? Why not just return to those three?" Albus looked up at Scorpius, but his eyes were distant. Drawn away, as if remembering, or picturing, something disconnected from the present.

"Because all we have is each other. We let that go and we have nothing. Just because no one else has ever given me as much doesn't mean I'm going to give up. All I can do is keep giving, anything and everything, to _every__one_. And hope that one day they'll eventually give back."

Albus's eyes were very dark. He almost seemed to be battling against himself, fighting a war in his mind. When he spoke again his voice was low, practically a whisper, "So you're saying that even when someone hates you, treats you terribly, with loathing, you're still going to do everything you can for them? Why?"

Scorpius's eyes were lit up with intensity, hope. "Because, like I said, we lose each other, and we have nothing. What else is there? Unless you believe in a god, I guess."

"But why give everything you have to your enemy? There are plenty of other people out there. Why not just leave the ones that treat you terribly, and go to the ones that are ready to accept what you can offer?"

"If you ask me, it's _more_ important to go to the ones that reject you. Because they're likely to be the ones that need you the most."

Albus just stared at Scorpius. Emerald locked with sapphire, neither giving way to the other.

There was a clanging of metal bolts and the door opened, swinging outwards. The cell was flooded with more purple light, and two dwarves stood in the entrance, each holding a tray with a bowl and a cup on it.

"Here to give you your grub. Don't know why we bother feeding you filth," said one of the dwarves, looking both of the wizards up and down with distaste.

Both dwarves entered the cell and placed a tray at the feet of Albus and Scorpius. Albus bent forward eagerly to grab the cup. The dwarf who had spoken saw this, and, with an evil gleam in his eye, stepped down on Albus's injured thigh, hard.

Albus let out a scream of agony, and jerked back abruptly, hitting his head against the wall.

Scorpius leapt forward to the maximum distance that the cuffs would let him, and kicked out from the floor, knocking the dwarf's feet out from under him.

The dwarf crashed to the ground, swearing colorfully. The second dwarf leapt forward and punched Scorpius in the face. Scorpius reeled back, his head hurting so badly that it threatened to push him into unconsciousness once more.

The dwarf he had knocked to the ground leapt up and kicked Scorpius viciously in the ribs, making the blonde boy gasp as the air was knocked out of him.

The dwarves beat at Scorpius again and again. Albus clutched his hurt leg, and gawked in horror and complete disbelief as the dwarves relentlessly pummeled Scorpius, looking like they weren't going to stop anytime soon. He wasn't surprised at the dwarves beating Scorpius so, but it shook him to the bone that Scorpius had taken the beating that was meant for him.

After they had had their fill of clobbering the boy, the dwarves turned around and left, laughing as they went and slamming the door shut.

"Malfoy, you okay?" Albus asked in shock.

Albus just stared as Scorpius raised his head and gave him a small smile. The blonde boy's face was covered in blood, his nose was crooked, and his left eye was swelling shut. Even though his face looked terrible, Albus knew that was not the full extant of his injuries. He knew Scorpius's body would definitely be bruising as they spoke. He had taken quite the beating.

"Why?" Albus was almost angry at Scorpius.

Scorpius was breathing heavily. "Because, I'm not going to just let him stand there and torture you like that."

"I wouldn't have done the same for you."

Scorpius gave him a weak smile. "I know. Did you forget our conversation so quick, Potter?"

Albus found himself staring at Scorpius again. He shook his head slowly. "You are one of a kind, Malfoy."

Scorpius's smile flashed once again, this time wide and strong. "You're breaking character Potter. You just gave me a compliment."

"That just depends on how you take it." Albus was the one to show a quick grin this time.

They both shoveled down their meager meals of soup and water in silence.

After they had finished their food, Albus said, "The question is, how are we going to get out of this mess?"

"I have a feeling we'll know soon enough. Our escape will show itself."

Albus quirked an eyebrow at Scorpius. "You have a feeling?"

"Yeah, you know, like that sixth sense?"

Albus snorted, "I run on calculations and logic, not intuition. Remember, I'm in Ravenclaw. We work with these," he tapped the side of his head with a finger.

Scorpius shrugged, "Well we're different, aren't we?" He shifted a little bit, and groaned in pain as his body protested.

"Oh yeah, you could say that." Albus said, looking down at his hands. "So, this 'feeling'—how does it tell you we're going to be rescued?"

"I don't know, I just have the feeling. It's not like I can see the future."

Albus stood up slowly, using the wall for support at first, and trying to be careful with his leg. He stretched his arms out to the sides. The chains were too short to allow him to stretch fully above his head. "Well, I hope, if your intuition really is accurate, that this angel of rescue, or whatever it is, comes soon."

Just as he finished speaking there was a muffled yell from outside the door, followed by a heavy thump. There was another loud thump a second later.

There was a cracking sound from just outside the door, and the clinking of metal on metal. The door swung outward a second later.

Scorpius looked up and smiled wide. Albus just stared in complete disbelief.

There, framed in the doorway, stood Zoë. She brushed a strand of dirty hair out her face and grinned. "Sorry boys, I decided to come gate crashing."


	24. Time for a Hasty Exit

Author's Note:

Each chapter brings us closer to the end!

Chapter 23: Time for a Hasty Exit

"I told you so," Scorpius said, grinning at Albus.

Albus muttered something indistinctly. This just caused Scorpius to smile all that much wider.

Zoë took a few steps into the cell, and then gasped. "Scorpius, what happened to you?"

Scorpius shrugged. "It's not as bad as it looks. I angered the guards." Scorpius looked at Albus. Albus looked back. Neither of them said anything more about what had happened.

"Let me get you out of those cuffs." Zoë came forward hurriedly and knelt by Scorpius.

Scorpius noticed for the first time that she had Slytherin's dagger in her hand. "Hey, did you–"

"Shh, let me get you out of here before we talk." Zoë took Scorpius's cuffed hands in hers, and quickly slid the dagger into the lock. The cuffs fell silently from his hands. Scorpius just stared down in surprise.

Zoë quickly went over to Albus and released him in the same way. She looked at both of them doubtfully. "Are you sure you two can get around? Neither of you look like you're in that good of shape." She indicated Albus's wrapped thigh, and Scorpius's bloody face.

"I'll be fine," Scorpius said as he quickly leapt to his feet. He flinched only briefly in pain.

"I can last until we meet up with Finnegan and Longbottom," Albus said.

"Okay then," Zoë said, still doubtful. "I found your wands by the way." She rummaged in her robes and tossed them their wands, which they caught with the nimbleness of seekers.

"Quick, let's get the dwarf guards in here and cuff them up and lock the door," Zoë said. Albus and Scorpius followed her out of the cell.

Scorpius found himself in a corridor. It stretched out in both directions. The way to his left curved sharply out of sight, and the way to the right climbed steeply upward and faded into darkness. The same two dwarves that had given them the food (and the beating) were lying unconscious on the floor.

Together (with Albus and Scorpius being cautious about their injuries) they managed to get the dwarf guards into the cell and cuff them. Albus took the opportunity to get in some good kicks with his good leg.

"Take that, and that, and some more of that!" he said viciously. He looked like a little kid as he put his anger into kicking the helpless dwarves.

"Easy Potter, we don't have time for this," Scorpius said from outside the cell.

"Just a second, one, last, one!" Albus heaved a mighty kick into one of the dwarves' faces. "And that was for weighing so much more than you should, for such a short guy."

Albus turned and stalked out of the celll as Zoë and Scorpius clanged the door shut behind him and redid the locks.

"Zoë, how did you get out?" Scorpius asked.

"They never captured me to begin with. I used the dagger to go invisible." Now that she said it, a memory was jogged in Scorpius's mind. A snapshot of her disappearing from sight, from right before he passed out.

"So how did you find our wands? How did you find _us_? This place must be huge."

"It was easy. I saw the dwarves take the wands and put them in a chest in the main hall –where we were when the fight broke out. And then all I had to do was follow them as they brought you both here, and then took Mr. Finnegan and Professor Longbottom farther down this corridor."

"Nicely done, Zoë," Scorpius said, impressed.

"I also thought about what your dad and Rasputin had told us about the dagger, and I tried to open the locks with it. And what do you know? It worked. Another one of its many powers, it would seem."

"I can start to understand why the dwarves want it so badly," Albus said. "But we should hurry. We can't just stand around here. We need to get Finnegan and Longbottom."

They hurried off to the right, and down the corridor. It led downward, and they had to jog for almost ten minutes before they came to the next cell—the one Zoë said Seamus and Neville were in. Surprisingly, there were no guards outside this cell, so they had short work in freeing their two leaders.

Once back out in the tunnel, Zoë filled Neville and Seamus in on what had happened as she handed them their wands and they set about healing Albus and Scorpius's injuries.

"We need to get that axe before we leave. We came all this way and we won't leave before we get it," Neville said.

"How do you propose we get it when we lost the fight so badly last time?" Albus asked.

"This time we, not them, will have the element of surprise."

"And how are we going to get out, even if we do get the axe? There are so many tunnels, and they're so confusing," Scorpius asked, worried.

"I put a tracking charm on a tree near where we left Stephanie and the others. It will guide us up, and out," Seamus said.

Albus looked slightly doubtful, but didn't say anything.

Neville nodded at Zoë, "Show us to the axe?"

"Of course. This way."

They all rushed after Zoë, tearing down corridor after corridor.

Several times they ran into pairs of dwarves patrolling up and down the tunnels. Each time they had the dwarves stunned so fast they didn't have time to react. But as they neared the king's hall, they realized that the bodies of the dwarves they'd knocked out must have been found, for they could hear the heavy footfalls of pursuit, and the hoarse cries of dwarves behind them.

They rushed into the king's hall at a full sprint. The king was standing near his throne and talking to his advisers. He turned in surprise but went down fast with a stun sent from Seamus.

The nobles and advisers turned and ran in all directions. Two of the king's guards grabbed their ruler's limp body and started to take him away, getting him out of the danger. The rest of the king's guards turned to fight.

It was a quick battle that was finished fast. With the element of surprise, the wizards took the dwarves down before they really had the chance to blink. But they didn't have much time. They could hear the footfalls of more dwarves rushing up from the side tunnels toward the hall.

"Scorpius, the axe!" Neville yelled.

Scorpius ran up the stairs to the dais where the large throne sat. Going around it, he reached up and grabbed at the gleaming weapon perched in the rock. He yelled in anger as it didn't come loose from the stone. Putting both his hands on the shaft, he pushed off from the rock with both feet and all his might, but Hufflepuff's great axe did not budge.

"I need help!" Scorpius called. Neville was at his side in a moment.

"Stand back!" Neville barked.

Scorpius leapt back around the throne and ducked. There was a loud explosion and rock hailed down around him. Turning back around the huge kingly chair, Scorpius was just in time to see the great axe hit the floor with a loud clang, unharmed. The gap in the rock where the weapon had lain was now much larger and smoking slightly.

"Guys we need to get out of here!" Seamus bellowed from across the hall where he'd just succeeded in shutting off one of the tunnels by using a spell to make it collapse.

Scorpius grabbed the axe, expecting a great weight. To his immense surprise it wasn't heavy at all; it felt as light as a feather.

"Alright, everyone this way!" Neville charged into the tunnel Scorpius recognized as the one they'd come down when they had originally been escorted through.

Albus charged after Neville, carrying their brooms. "Where did you–" asked Zoë, but she was cut off as Seamus shoved her into the tunnel after Albus's disappearing rear.

Scorpius turned back and felt despair. Dwarves were pouring out of the other tunnels like ants, there were far too many for Scorpius to count.

"Get into the tunnel. Now." Seamus said, urging Scorpius to be quick.

Scorpius turned away from the hall and plunged into the tunnel, followed by Seamus. He had to bend over almost immediately. They hurried along as fast as they could, but their speed was limited by the amount of space they had to maneuver, and their cramped position.

Scorpius heard Seamus blow the ceiling of the tunnel out behind him, trapping the dwarves back.

"Hurry, that won't stop them for long. They're expert diggers, not to mention they'll just go around by some other route to cut us off." Seamus pushed Scorpius on.

"Sorry, I can't go any faster." Scorpius scrabbled at the walls and the ground, propelling himself forward as best he could.

They followed tunnels left, they followed tunnels right, but always in a steadily upward direction. Scorpius hoped the tracking charm Neville had used would guide them safely out.

Suddenly Zoë stopped in front of Scorpius. "What are we stopping for?" He asked, slightly out of breath.

There was a muffled yell from up ahead where he couldn't see, followed by a second cry, and finally a third. Scorpius heard Neville's voice from up ahead say something indistinctly. Then Albus's followed. "Turn around, go back! The way is blocked."

Seamus groaned but started backing up, followed by the rest of them. After a couple of minutes Scorpius backed up past a tunnel exiting off to the left. "Down this one." Neville said, quickly entering the tunnel entrance and starting to move forward again. The rest of crew followed.

Finally, after about ten more minutes of struggling up small tunnels, they reached a door set in the stone ahead of them. "It's locked, stand back!" came Neville's voice again.

Shifting back a bit, Scorpius heard a loud bang, and suddenly he could see light up ahead, streaming in around Zoë's body. Within a few seconds, they were all out in the open, leaping to their feet gratefully and letting the tension out of their upper bodies.

Scorpius looked up and froze. They stood with their backs to a cliff face that reached up to the sky. It wasn't the same one they had entered near, but it was very similar. Ahead of them, and standing in a large semi-circle, blocking off any exit, was a crowd of dwarves.

They were armed to the teeth, and looking furious. At the front of the crowd stood the dwarf king, flanked by Brishnak. The king was livid, his face red with anger, his eyes almost lost behind the glower of his eyebrows.

"Fool humans, did you really think you could escape us? Even if you did, what would you hope to gain? You would have the axe, but you also would have acquired the fury of the dwarves. How much better off would you be then? As it is, you just end up losing both the dagger, and your lives."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Albus yelled, a dangerous gleam in his eye. The brooms were still in his hands (Scorpius wondered how he could have maneuvered around the tunnels with them, but then again, he _was_ Albus Potter), but now he dropped all of them except his own and leapt astride it. "I have the dagger, come get me!" With that he rocketed into the sky, a streak of color in the air.

"Get him! Get him!" The king screamed, his eyes bulging. Many of the dwarves were armed with bows and arrows; they now turned them skyward and fired. The air around Albus was now full of flying shafts, but he was a good flier—the best flier—and he turned this way and that, moving his broom on the dime.

"Let's go." Scorpius picked up his broom from the ground where Albus had dropped it and mounted it, soaring into the sky. His companions followed him.

"That one too! Get the one with the axe too!" The dwarf king was screaming frantically.

The sky was now dark with arrows. Scorpius dodged one bolt only to be in the path of another. He gasped, knowing he couldn't dodge it in time. But suddenly, Neville was in front of him. He heard a groan escape the teacher as the shaft entered his shoulder. Neville swayed dangerously on his broom but didn't fall.

"Zoë, use the dagger!" Seamus ordered as he fired hex after hex at their attackers.

"The boy was a decoy, the girl has the knife! Shoot her!" The dwarf king was anxiously running back and forth. But it was too late; Zoë had already disappeared in mid air.

Albus turned and flew as fast as he could away from the cliff face, toward the woods. Scorpius, Seamus, and Neville followed. Neville looked rather pale, but clutched his broom with determination.

As they flew out above the trees, they could hear the dwarf king's evil cackle following them. "At last! The Wyrms are here!"

Scorpius looked back over his shoulder. One of his hands held the broom steady and the other held the axe of Hufflepuff. Fear froze his bones.

They were now high up in the sky, at the same level as the top of the cliff face they had exited below. From the top of the cliff were leaping a score of creatures Scorpius had never seen before. They were about the size of ponies, but they were lizard-like with wings and scales that gleamed dangerously. Scorpius had never seen a dragon before, but from the pictures he had seen, the Wyrms looked almost exactly like miniatures of the big fire-breathing beasts.

Each Wyrm was a different color, and each was ridden by an armed dwarf.

"We have company!" Scorpius informed the rest of his friends, just as Zoë reappeared beside them. They looked back, all of them turning pale as they did so.

Scorpius and Albus each had brooms that might have been able to outstrip the Wyrms, but the other three had older, slower models, and Scorpius wasn't about to leave his friends to be lizard food. He looked to Albus to see if the boy was going to bolt and leave them, but those famous green eyes were hard and determined.

The Wyrms started to close the gap between them, sleek splashes of color flying on the wind. They had left the dwarves on the ground far behind by now, but the dwarves on the Wyrms were soon loosing shafts at them, making the sky as dangerous as before.

"We need to protect Zoë and Neville!" Scorpius called. Albus and Seamus both nodded at him as they ducked and dodged bolts whizzing by their heads.

Spinning on the spot, the two teenage boys and the Auror turned and flew back at the Wyrms. The dwarves were so surprised they barely managed to avoid colliding with the trio.

Hissing with anger, the dwarves drew swords and axes, and flew at the three humans who were now bucking and diving and soaring as fast as they could, attempting to dodge the spats of flame the Wyrms were firing at them, and, at the same time, lead the enemy away from Zoë and Neville.

One of the dwarves pulled up alongside Scorpius, and swung at him with a sword. Scorpius whipped up the axe of Hufflepuff and knocked the blow aside with ease. Suddenly the weight of the axe shifted, becoming slightly heavier, but also more balanced. It was now the perfect weight for Scorpius to wield and fight with.

Scorpius swung the axe around with a yell. The dwarf brought up the sword to block the swipe, but the great axe smote the blade from his hand and sent it careening down to the forest below. Drawing the axe back, Scorpius slammed the butt of the long shaft into the dwarf's chest. The dwarf lost his balance, and tumbled from the back of the Wyrm. Seeing his master fall, the Wyrm dived after him, hoping to save him.

Scorpius turned back to see how the others were faring. Seamus had somehow managed to get a sword from one of the dwarves, and was now locking blades with a warrior, looking like he knew how to use it. Albus was doing some of the flying he was famous for, maneuvering around, under, and over Wyrms. They were becoming so confused and disoriented in their chase that they were crashing into each other and toasting each others riders with flames.

A dwarf on a Wyrm was sneaking up behind Seamus, getting ready to pounce the Wyrm on him and use the animal's claws to rip him apart.

Scorpius was suddenly at the Auror's side. Swinging the axe up and over, he severed the Wyrm's head from its body. The Wyrm and its rider tumbled through the air to crash in the canopy of trees below.

Scorpius looked around and saw that a group of five Wyrms had flown away from the main pack and were closing in on the fleeing forms of Neville and Zoë. In alarm, Scorpius pushed his broom to full throttle as he shot after them, hot in pursuit.

Scorpius was closing the distance between him and his friends rapidly, but he wasn't going to make it. The Wyrms were practically right on top of Zoë and Neville now.

One of the Wyrms was looking ready to spring, when _wham!_ It was knocked to the side as a figure blasted full speed into it.

Scorpius recognized Stephanie with a cheer. Suddenly Hugo and Lily were there too, sending spells flying left and right, and forcing the Wyrms into a series of feints and dodges.

Now Scorpius was upon them. With a battle cry he swung his axe left and right, hoping to deal some damage.

One of the riders swerved under his swing and came up, blade whipping through the air dangerously. Scorpius saw it just a split second too late. He tried to move out of the way, but the blade sliced a gash in his left forearm. With a gasp of pain he dropped the axe. The weapon shot toward the forest floor, falling fast.

Scorpius went like a bullet after the weapon, knowing that he couldn't afford to lose it. Suddenly the rider who had injured him soared past, gaining on the axe faster than Scorpius ever could.

A scream of despair ripped from Scorpius's lungs. He would not, _could not,_ be the one who made them fail this quest. He had been the mediocre one for too long—the disappointing one for far longer than he could stand.

Using a move he had executed on Albus all those days ago, in that meaningless Quidditch match before this had all begun, Scorpius threw himself from his broom. He landed on the back of the Wyrm with a crash, smashing into the dwarf rider with a jarring force that knocked them both from the Wyrm's back.

Scorpius was now free falling through the sky. Struggling with his robes, he pulled out his wand. With a hiss he fired a charm that sent him shooting through the air towards the axe at a startling speed. His hand nicked the Wyrm's foreleg as he shot past, ripping the wand from his hand.

Scorpius soared toward the tops of the trees at an alarming pace. He caught up with the axe, and reaching out he grabbed it from the air.

But now he was completely helpless, plummeting to his death with Hufflepuff's weapon clutched faithfully to his chest. The wind whistled in his ears, and tore at his clothes. Looking down at the fast approaching forest, Scorpius closed his eyes and prepared for the impact.


	25. A Manly HearttoHeart

Author's Note:

Closer and closer!

Don't forget to drop a review.

~thanimag

Chapter 24: A Manly Heart-to-Heart

Scorpius fell through the air, his eyes clenched shut with fear of what was to come. His body shuddered with an impact, but it wasn't the one he had expected to feel when his body hit the tops of the trees. He opened his eyes to find Albus holding him.

Albus was leaning over his broomstick and had both his arms around Scorpius's midsection. Scorpius was now falling slower, but he was still falling as Albus's broom couldn't hold their combined weight.

They crashed through the top of the forest. They tumbled through a thick mass of foliage, branches cracking left and right as they fell. They bounced off a tree limb here, snapped through another one there.

Albus's arms were ripped away from Scorpius's torso and Hufflepuff's axe slipped from the blonde boy's hand.

Scorpius hit the ground with bone jarring force. He groaned and rolled over, his whole body aching with bruises and scratches. Pulling himself to his feet, he went and retrieved Hufflepuff's axe from where it had hit the earth with a soft thump.

"Hey, Albus, you okay?" Scorpius turned toward the place where Albus had landed.

Scorpius's rescuer lay among the splinters of his broom. Albus didn't respond, and was lying very still.

"Albus!" Scorpius rushed over and knelt next to the motionless figure. Putting his ear to Albus's chest, he searched for a heartbeat. It was there, strong and steady. "Whew! So you're just unconscious then." Scorpius said to the unresponsive Albus as he settled back on his haunches.

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound from above. Scorpius looked up with dismay. Flying down through the path of wrecked foliage were three Wyrms with their dwarf riders.

The dragon-like creatures landed in a triangle around Scorpius and the prone Albus, creating three points of danger.

Scorpius rose slowly to his feet, his grip on the axe shaft tightening.

"Ready to die, fool boy?" One of the dwarves leered at him.

"I don't plan on dying yet." Scorpius's eyes flicked left and right, going from one dwarf to another.

The Wyrms started slowly moving in from all sides, getting ready to strike. Scorpius swung the mighty axe around in a large circle, forcing the Wyrms to take a step back, hissing in anger.

It didn't stop them for long. One of the Wyrms made a dive for Scorpius as he swung the axe in another direction. Scorpius saw him coming out of the corner of his eye and brought the axe back around, hewing the dwarf and Wyrm straight down their centers.

The momentary diversion cost him, however, for another of the dwarves saw the opportunity his comrade's action opened up. The dwarf let fly a dagger that struck Scorpius in the back of his thigh.

Scorpius let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees. Using just his upper body, he swung his axe back and forth, attempting to hold the two remaining attackers at bay.

The two dwarves were now circling Scorpius slowly, evil grins on their faces, knowing the injured boy could only hold out for so long.

And Scorpius knew he was weakening. He could feel it as more and more blood left his body. But he was determined not to give up until his body completely shut down on him. Now yelling fiercely, with a glint in his eye, he dragged himself up and onto his good leg. He was wobbling, but at least he was standing.

Then Scorpius's heart filled with hope as Seamus Finnegan came whipping down from above. The sandy blonde Auror fired two curses, instantly taking down a dwarf and Wyrm. Landing on the run, the Auror dropped his broom and leapt into the last remaining dwarf, tackling the dwarf from his flying steed.

The Wyrm turned to help his rider. Seeing his opening, Scorpius leapt forward with his one good leg, and brought the axe down, slicing off the creature's tail.

With a roar of anger and pain, the Wyrm spun around, and, with a foreleg adorned with dangerous talons, knocked Scorpius down. The Wyrm reared back on its legs, and was about to come down for the finishing blow when it collapsed over onto its side.

Scorpius looked over in shock to see Albus standing shakily with his wand in hand and sweaty hair plastered to his forehead.

At that moment Seamus wrestled his dwarf to the ground, and, with a well aimed punch to the temple, knocked the stocky dwarf unconscious.

Seamus rose to his feet and quickly went over to where Scorpius was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Roll over onto your side, quickly," said Seamus. Scorpius obeyed without hesitation.

Seamus yanked the knife out of Scorpius's thigh in one fluid movement. Scorpius let out a howl of pain. Acting quickly, Seamus pressed his wand to the wound and cast a healing spell. The pain slowly started to fade from Scorpius's body.

Scorpius sat up, and was quickly overwhelmed with dizziness. "Take it easy, Malfoy. Your injury is healed, but you've still lost a good bit of blood," said Seamus. Turning towards Albus, he asked, "Potter, you okay?"

Albus was now standing steadily, but was still a little bit pale. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"How many more Wyrms are there?" asked Scorpius, who was still a little disoriented.

"Those were the last of them," Seamus said, as he took in their surroundings.

"Where are the others?"

"I saw them landing further on. Roughly a couple of miles away, I would say."

"How are we going to meet up with them? For that matter, how are we going to get all the way back home? My broom is smashed, and who knows where Scorpius's is." Albus didn't look worried, just a bit annoyed at the thought of possibly being stranded.

Seamus's brow furrowed. "That's not good. I'll see if I can summon his broom."

"Try for my wand too," Scorpius said, "I lost it in the fight."

Seamus nodded. "_Accio wand! Accio broom!_" A few seconds passed before Scorpius's wand came shooting through the trees and landed softly in the dirt. It was followed by some splinters and snapped pieces of what was left of Scorpius's broom.

Scorpius moaned. "That was an expensive broom."

"I'd be more worried about the fact that we're stranded until further notice," Albus's mouth twitched at the corner, as if he was fighting the urge to smile.

"This is definitely a dilemma," Seamus said. "We've got one broom between the three of us, and we need to meet up with the others as soon as possible. I would send off a signal, but there might be more dwarves searching for us. It's too risky."

"What if you go to find the others, and either bring them all back here, or borrow a couple of brooms and return for us?" Albus asked. "That way we'd at least all be together, and we could work out what to do from there."

"I like your thinking, Potter. The farther we are from here, the safer. So I'll go with plan two. You guys think you'll be okay? It should only be a few minutes." Seamus looked them both up and down.

"We'll be fine. I'm less dizzy now, just go." Scorpius assured the Auror from where he sat on the ground.

Seamus mounted his broom and was gone in an instant, leaving Scorpius and Albus in silence.

Scorpius looked up at the other boy who was standing about ten paces from him.

Albus was staring off into the trees, looking slightly lost. His green eyes were blank, as if their host was in some distant place. His clothes were in poor condition from the fight and his brief imprisonment. He was covered in a variety of scratches and gashes that oozed blood from head to foot.

"That was some amazing flying up there. And I should thank you for saving my life—so thank you."

Albus looked at Scorpius in surprise, as if he had forgotten his companion was there. "What have you done to me, Scorpius?" he asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I never would have done something that stupid before. That stunt could easily have cost me my life, and there was very little hope of saving you. It was a miracle we both came out of it relatively untouched. The _only_ reason I would have done something like that before, would be to prove I could. But that wasn't the reason I did it. I can't explain it: when I saw you fall, something kicked me into action."

Albus turned back and looked off into the forest once more. "I've never looked out for anyone, not even myself. Why would I start now? Have you changed me against all odds? When you took that beating for me in that cell . . . I don't know . . . something almost clicked. As if that was how things are supposed to be. You're supposed to have people there by your side, people who will look out for you no matter what."

Scorpius struggled to his feet, but was instantly hit by a wave of nausea. He stepped back, putting out an arm for balance, and it quickly passed. "We all have our own beliefs, Potter. And I know I often sound as if I'm morally superior or something, which I'm not. I'm just trying to figure things out myself, and the only conclusion that I've come to so far, is what you just said. People are meant to be there for each other. If we can't look out for each other, then who are we supposed to look out for? All I know is that this world is a lonely place without our friends, and I'm not about to just watch my life go by in solitude and loneliness. That's a dark world if you ask me."

Albus's gaze flicked to the side, and he watched Scorpius out of the corner of his eyes. "We're in this whole mess together to the end, aren't we?"

"Well, that's what it looks like anyway," Scorpius said with a little laugh.

Albus walked up till he stood within arm's reach of the blonde teenager. His eyes blazed with an emerald fire that shook Scorpius in surprise. "I know I never would have said anything like this just a little while ago, but of all the people to have backing me up in this, I'm glad you're the one. You're definitely one of a kind. And I'm with you, come hell or high water." Albus stuck out his hand.

Scorpius was completely taken aback, and stared at the hand, and then at Albus's face, and then back at the hand again. Then his face slowly split into a broad grin. "And it's the same for me, Potter," he grabbed Albus's hand and shook it firmly. "We'll see this through to the end."

Seamus came sweeping in from the air just then, with two broomsticks tucked under his arm. He looked slightly amused as he caught sight of Albus and Scorpius just releasing their handshake. "Ah, it's good to see that young people these days still pass the time and express their manhood by seeing who has the firmer grip."

"Well, there would be no need to test that. Everyone knows Scorpius would lose a strength competition with a cat." Scorpius could have sworn that Albus's eyes were twinkling as he said it. But he couldn't be sure, because he had _never_ seen anything that even resembled a twinkle in Albus's eyes before.

They mounted the brooms and took to the air. Seamus leading the way. They didn't have to fly long before they were descending to the ground again.

Neville was healed and on his feet, preparing a meal over a fire. He had cast a spell to disperse the smoke in case they were still being looked for. Hugo, Lily, Zoë, and Stephanie were sitting side-by-side, talking around the fight.

At the sight of Stephanie, Scorpius felt a pang of guilt in his gut. He felt terrible about what he had said to her earlier. Knowing exactly what he needed to do, he dropped the broom and axe as soon as he landed, and strode over and threw himself down next to his best friend.

Stephanie stiffened a little, but then quickly relaxed. They had known each other too long to remain hostile towards to one another for long.

"Steph, I need to apologize for what I said earlier. I know you're every bit as qualified as me to be here. The main reason I was upset you showed up was because I was selfish. I've sort of seen this as being my quest, and I guess I got kind of overly protective of it, and didn't really want to share it."

"I know, Scorpius. I understand, there's no need to say any more. We both know each other well enough we don't need to spend time on apologies. I forgive you, of course. So let's move on."

Scorpius flashed her a wide smile. "Well then, that was some great fighting up there, and some very timely intervention."

"I bet, in the end, you're glad I came, right?" Stephanie said, playfully giving him a little shove.

"You can say that again." Scorpius leaned forward so that he could talk to Zoë around Stephanie, "That was awesome back there Zoë. Without you we never would have gotten out of there."

Zoë smiled. "Why thank you, Scorpius. It was nothing. All the work of Slytherin's dagger, really."

"Yeah, but it can't do all that on its own. It takes something to wield it, I'm sure."

Zoë smiled again, pleased by Scorpius's compliment.

There was a brief wolf whistle, and Scorpius looked up. Neville was standing looking down at Hufflepuff's axe where Scorpius had left it. "That is quite the weapon." He looked up at Scorpius. "How does it wield? Is it easy to use?"

"Oh yeah," Scorpius's whole face lit up, "it's great. You don't really have to do anything, it pretty much does all the hacking itself."

"Yay. We've got a psychotic axe with a mind of it's own that goes around leaving a trail of blood, gore, and waste in its path. That's something to be excited about," Albus said from where he sat near the fire. "How we will cheer when it slaughters each of us in our beds at night. One. By. One."

"I know, isn't it great?" Scorpius said cheerfully.

Albus shook his head as he poked a stick back and forth in the fire.

"Now the question is, how do we get back home?" Neville asked of no one in particular.

"I have an idea," said Seamus. "Thestrals." The single word held the hope of their ride home.

"Ah, good idea Seamus." Neville said, nodding thoughtfully.

"How will we attract the Thestrals?" asked Scorpius.

"Oh, that's the easy part. They'll come flocking on their own with all the Wyrm flesh lying around. We just need to go fetch one of the carcasses to drag back here. Seamus, why don't you come help me. The rest of you, stay here and rest up. As soon as the Thestrals come we want to be off right away. So make sure you have all your stuff gathered together. Scorpius and Albus, you two will ride mine and Seamus's brooms. We'll be the ones riding the Thestrals."

The two leaders of the group rushed off into the woods, running as quickly as they could. The teenagers were left with just each other for company.

"Since I'm the most talented, smartest, best looking and oldest of all of us, I'm in charge. So you all better obey my every word," said Albus with a wide, playful grin.

"Even if all of those were true, how does best looking add to reasons you would be in charge?" asked Stephanie, eyebrows raised.

"Ahem, first off, those all are true. Second, I _am _in charge, it's not a _would be_ scenario. And lastly, good looks is a very important thing to have when it comes to leadership. It signifies being confidant and having authority. Not to mention irresistible charisma and charm." Albus said, flashing Stephanie a sweet smile.

Stephanie rose to her feet and came over to where Albus crouched by the fire. She leaned over so that her lips where very close to Albus's ear. She spoke in a low voice, but one that was perfectly audible to the rest of the teenagers in the quiet clearing. "Well if that's true, then you're an exception, pretty boy, because when they dished out the charisma and charm, they missed you." She gave Albus an even sweeter smile than the one he had given her. Planting a kiss firmly on the end of her fingertips, she pressed them to his cheek. "Sorry for the bad news, darling."

Stephanie rose to her full height, and strode off through the trees, leaving Albus to watch her go with annoyance, her long blonde hair flicking left and right in rhythm with her swaying hips.

As soon as Stephanie had passed out of view, the rest of the group roared with laughter, especially Lily and Hugo. "Ah, that was definitely a priceless sight. Is that the first time you've been stood up by a girl, Albus?" Lily was grinning madly at her brother.

"Oh shuttup Lily," said Albus irritably. He threw the twig he had been playing with into the fire with slightly more force then he needed to.

"Hahaha! Albus, she owned you man."

"Not as bad as I'm about to own you, you little twit." Albus scrambled to his feet and ran at Hugo who leapt to his feet and made a run for it.

Albus was faster than the younger boy and easily caught him up. Albus tackled his cousin to the ground and playfully sat on him and pummeled him lightly.

Tousling his cousin's hair, Albus rose to his feet. Hearing the sound of running water, Albus headed into the trees, searching for the source.

About twenty yards or so from the clearing, Albus found a small river, or a large brook. It wasn't wide, just about ten paces or so. The water was clear and ran musically down its course, bubbling over stones and fallen tree branches. Albus walked to the edge and stared down into the water, watching a couple of fish battling upstream against the current.

The sound of soft footsteps could be heard coming through the trees behind him, but Albus knew instinctively who it was. "She's one heck of a young woman, your friend Stephanie."

Scorpius laughed, and came to stand beside Albus. "That she is, that she is. . . . I take it it's not everyday you get trumped when it comes to flirting?" Scorpius punched Albus's shoulder lightly, playfully.

Albus almost started in surprise. He had seen Scorpius perform such comradely actions with Stephanie, and even Zoë once or twice. He had seen many other kids at school make the same simple signs of friendship. But Albus had never experienced it—never been on the receiving end, and definitely never done it himself. _Is this what it's like to actually have a friend?_ He wondered.

"Not everyday? No, I've _never_ been treated like that by a girl before. Not that I interact with them often—I've never really been interested in girls. The whole thing of bothering yourself over someone of another gender strikes me as painfully pointless."

Scorpius laughed briefly again. "Well, Stephanie wasn't shooting you down. If she was, she'd have done it much more plainly than that. If I know Stephanie anywhere near as much as I think I do, I'd almost say she fancies you somewhat."

Albus looked up from the water in surprise. "Surely you jest. She has a weird way of showing it."

Scorpius shrugged. "She's not like most girls. She might be testing you—testing to see how you react, probably because she's trying to get to know you better. Or then again, she could be doing it merely for her own amusement. You never know with girls. They're hard to work out."

"But she's your best friend, and it seems like most of your good friends are girls."

"I know. Which either means that I'm really stupid, or that if I don't understand them, then no one stands a chance." Scorpius laughed again. Albus was amazed at how easy it was for him to laugh. It seemed so natural, as if it just flowed out, as if he was always ready to be happy, and to show it too. "But what do you mean by saying most of my good friends are girls?"

"I was thinking of Zoë."

"Well, I'm not sure how close of friends we really are. I always feel like I'm saying or doing things that make our friendship take a couple steps backwards. She's so hard to get to know."

"I'd just give her time. Eventually she'll open up."

Scorpius laughed."Now _you're_ giving _me _advice about how to deal with other people?"

"Whoa, that's weird. I guess I am."

"But you know, about what you said earlier, about relationships with girls being pointless? Well, it's obviously not for everybody. But the thing is, lots of people fool around, and that _is_ pretty pointless: it just ends in broken hearts and messed up people. What relationships with people of the other gender should be is friendship, just like with people of the same gender. Then one day, once you have a really strong and close friendship, you might decide you want to spend the rest of your life with that person, and it grows from there.

"But hey, what am I saying? I don't really know anything about this type of thing. I'm just rambling on about random thoughts I have on the matter."

Scorpius was looking rather uncomfortable, and shifting from foot to foot. Albus fought the urge to smile. He found the whole conversation quite amusing.

"You know, this is so bizarre."

"I know. I hate it when I start to ramble about random stupid stuff."

Albus laughed. It was odd, he didn't laugh very often at all. "No, that's not what I meant. I was thinking about the fact that a day ago we were enemies of a sort, and now here we are. We're having a conversation about girls, just like any two ordinary guys might have."

"Yeah, I guess. A regular old manly heart-to-heart."

"Okay, never say that again. You ever say something as absurd as me having a heart-to-heart again and I'll beat you senseless with a spoon, and then roast you over a candle."

"A spoon?"

"Yes, it's the best thing I could think of on the spot."

"A spoon?"

"Oh shuttup Malfoy, I hate vague and non-descriptive disclaimers, okay?"

"But still, a spoon?"

"Malfoy, do you ever learn when you're just supposed to shut up?"


	26. Minions of Hell

**Author's Note:**

**Another chapter is upon us! **

Chapter 25: Minions of Hell

Around sunset, the Thestrals arrived. By the looks on the others' faces, Scorpius knew that they, too, could see the Thestrals—he was not the only one.

None of the teenagers had ever seen a Thestral before, for none of them had seen someone die until recently. Some of them, such as Hugo, hadn't seen death until that very day. But, regrettably, death was now a part of each of their lives. Whether in the Fight Club, the halls of Hogwarts, or the current adventure with the Dwarves, death had been experienced.

Five Thestrals—charcoal black wings outspread, blind eyes creamy and staring—came flying out of the sky and approached the mutilated body of the Wyrm Neville and Seamus had provided. They set upon it with the ferocity of half-starved wild beasts. The teenagers stood and stared in awe. The Thestrals looked like charcoal black horses, with blind creamy eyes, and wings. For that was essentially what they were, if rather bony and thin horses with the ability to fly.

"Come, we don't have time to lose. Grab your stuff and let's go." Neville grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder. He approached a Thestral, and when the animal didn't react, he clambered onto its back. Seamus followed suit.

The two leaders took to the air, followed by the rest of the group on brooms.

They flew late into the night, trying to make up for lost time.

Albus looked down once, and, though he couldn't be sure, he thought he saw a number of dark figures flying just above the tree tops. But it was so far below them, it was hard for him to really tell if it wasn't just the shadows playing weirdly across the forest. When he looked down once more, about an hour later, he thought he could make them out again, but this time there looked like there were many more—almost two score. Suddenly, one of the figures turned a pale, ghostly face up towards them. Even at that distance Albus could feel its gaze on him, and two icy claws of fear gripped at his heart.

Flying to Seamus's side, Albus gestured for the Auror to take a look down, for it was too windy for them to hear each others voices. Seamus looked down, then back up as Albus watched the older wizard. The Auror traced a question mark in the air with a finger. Albus looked down again, but the figures were gone. He furrowed his brow in confusion, figuring he must have imagined it after all.

_You idiot, Albus, of course you just imagined it. You're exhausted, and the shadows were playing tricks on your tired mind._

They stopped just as the sun was coming up, and slept into early afternoon before getting up and flying some more. They halted that night at just past midnight. Albus hadn't seen anything weird, and so he decided it all had just been because of the lighting and his weariness. He didn't bother telling anybody about the experience.

Scorpius slept lightly, before something woke him. He wasn't quite sure what. All was quiet and still. It was a full moon. Pale silvery light filtered through the foliage above and played across the sleeping figures. Scorpius couldn't be sure, but from what he could tell, dawn was not far off.

Something didn't seem quite right, so Scorpius pulled himself out of his sleeping bag, and took a hold of Hufflepuff's axe, which he slept within reach of.

Albus was on watch duty, and he was crouched on the ground just five feet off, his wand out. He was peering into the trees with an odd intensity, as if he was waiting for something. He looked quickly over at Scorpius when the blonde boy moved, and held a finger to his lips.

Scorpius mimicked Albus's crouching position, and gripped his weapon tightly—its weight comforting in his grasp.

Scorpius looked around, gazing into the trees like Albus. What he saw chilled him to the bone. There, just outside the ring of trees that surrounded the companions, lurking in the shadows between the branches and foliage, were dozens of dark shapes—_human_ shapes. The shadowy figures were topped by sickly pale faces that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. They all stood perfectly still, not moving at all, and watched Albus and Scorpius with hard, stony gazes.

The companions were completely surrounded.

"_Vampires._" hissed Albus as quietly as he could.

Scorpius's first instinct was to yell and wake the others, but for some reason he couldn't. It was as if his body and voice were frozen solid, no longer under his control.

A smooth, silky voice that seemed to emanate from all of the vampires, yet from none at all, came from all directions.

"Our master has sent us to relieve you of your burdens, young ones."

None of Scorpius's sleeping friends even shifted in their beds. It was as if they couldn't hear the voice at all. But to Scorpius it was loud and clear.

Albus spoke out commandingly, "Well I don't know who your master is, but you can tell him he presumes too much. Because you aren't relieving us of anything, and we don't have any burdens anyway." Still none of their companions moved even the slightest bit.

There was a brief silence from the vampires. Scorpius was still frozen where he crouched. Then the voice came again, "If you do not comply willingly, we will force them from your lifeless hands."

"Keep wishing. It's more like we'll be forcing your still hearts from your already lifeless carcasses, you walking dead," Albus spat.

There was a roar of anger from the vampires, and they started forwards, slowly.

Albus was quick though, and had already planned his move. Leaping from his crouching position, he was at Scorpius's side in less than an instant. Clamping his fist in the back of Scorpius's shirt, he heaved the blonde boy—who was still unable to move voluntarily—to his shaky feet.

Albus yelled a spell as he pointed his wand skyward. A strong gust of air shot from Albus's wand and blasted a large circular hole in the canopy above them. "_Accio!_" A long, thick branch shot towards them from the trees above. Albus dropped his wand and caught it deftly.

Using his own body to support Scorpius's unstable and slumping one, Albus took his fist from the back of Scorpius's shirt, grabbed Scorpius's forearm that held the axe, and hoisted it up. The axe pointed strong and true upwards. Albus brought the branch that was in his other hand around and held it at a right angle across the axe shaft.

The vampires—that were now way too close for comfort—hissed angrily as they hastily stepped back. Silhouetted on the ground by the strong moonlight was the rough shape of a cross.

"Get back, you demons of Hell," Albus commanded.

The vampires were now making guttering sounds in their throats, and gazing at Albus with hatred.

The silky voice spoke again. "Potter, lower that appalling symbol."

Albus looked a little shaken at that. "How do you know my name?" he asked harshly.

The voice chuckled lightly. "We know everything about you. Our master has informed us of your deepest dreams, your darkest desires. How you have no friends. You are sick of this life. You thirst for power. You want to be the best, the strongest. And you always were, but no longer. You have been encountering others who are more capable than you. You cannot deny it, little human."

Albus was trembling, and the symbol of the cross was shaking dangerously.

"Who is this master of yours?" he whispered.

The voice continued on, ignoring him. "We know that while you have been getting much attention from the world, you still do not get the time you desire from your parents. They are always away, always busy. They do not have time for you, even though you are their own flesh and blood. And what of your brother, the only one you called friend? At the first chance, he ran away and left you. Abandoned you here, all alone in this pathetic life."

"Shut up, _SHUT UP!_" screamed Albus.

"Our master is willing to accept you into his ranks. He will train you, give you the power you want so dearly. He will help you achieve the revenge you desire on all who have forgotten about you. He has a great weapon waiting for you, Potter. One that holds much might. It once belonged to one even brighter than you."

"Who is this master you speak of? Is it Zabini?"

"He is fair, and brings justice to the world."

This whole while Scorpius was slumped, unmoving, against Albus, his eyes wide with terror and disbelief. Surely Albus wouldn't listen to these monsters?

Albus seemed unsure, hesitant. "Would he really let me wield the bow of Ravenclaw?" he whispered, enticed with the idea.

"Yesssss, it waits for you. The Master knows your potential; he has seen it. He will not leave you or forget about you, as everyone else has. You are alone, Potter. Why would you stay with these low ones who do not understand you, do not care about you? They hold you back."

"They do don't they..." Albus whispered to himself.

_He can't, no he can't do this._ Thought Scorpius desperately. He fought with all his strength against his unmoving body. He pushed everything he had into it, his heart, his soul. He was more determined than he had ever been before. He would not let Zabini take Albus away and destroy him. Scorpius screamed with all his might, though no sound was heard. Finally, just as his strength was faltering, his body twitched. It was a small movement, barely noticeable, but it was enough.

Albus felt the movement and looked down. His eyes widened as if he had forgotten Scorpius completely, even though it was his arms that held the blond boy's weight. The sight of Scorpius, looking up at him out of two blazing blue fires, was all he needed.

"No." Albus said. His voice was quiet, but firm.

"What?" hissed the voice.

"I said no." Albus's voice was louder, gaining resolve.

"Do you know what you are doing, fool boy?" asked the voice angrily.

"Take your lies and deceit away from me and back to where they came from. You can tell your master this: I am coming. I am coming for him. Tell him to get ready, because I am going to be stronger than the last time we met, and this time, I will defeat him."

"No one can defeat the Master, he is far above us all," the voice spat.

"Be gone you creatures of the night! For dawn has come, and you are monsters of darkness. You cannot take the light. You cannot stand up to joy, or happiness, or anything good. Here you see friendship, which is a stronger power than any you or your foul master holds. Be gone!" Albus stood tall and solemn. Authority and command seemed to emanate from him in a tangible aura. The lightening sky hardened his emerald eyes to two pinpoints of will and strength.

"You will regret your decision, stupid fool." And with that, the vampires were gone, instantly vanishing into the darkness of the trees.

As soon as they were gone, Albus collapsed wearily to the forest floor, with Scorpius landing on top of him. In control of his body again, Scorpius immediately rolled off of Albus.

"Potter, are you okay?" asked Scorpius with concern.

The air of authority was gone, and he was just plain Albus once again. His face was pale and sweaty, and he was breathing heavily.

Albus smiled weakly. "Yeah, I will be."

"How did you know how to deal with the vampires like that? And why didn't any of the others wake through all that noise? Why couldn't I move or speak?"

"Too many questions too fast, Malfoy. Be considerate please."

"Right, sorry."

Albus laughed lightly, but he looked completely spent and exhausted. "I knew how to deal with them because my dad is Harry Potter, and my mom is Head Auror. Also, I am called Prodigy of the Century for a reason, Malfoy.

"As for the reason our friends slept on, and why you had no control over yourself, the answer is simple. When vampires take you by surprise, you're frozen in whatever state you're found in. Obviously our friends were asleep and weren't expecting them, so they were stuck in their dreams. You were taken aback when you saw them, so you were immobilized too, but in a waking state. It's one of the things that makes vampires such efficient killers."

"Why did they keep referring to Zabini as 'The Master'?" asked Scorpius curiously.

"Vampires are not like centaurs, or dwarves, or giants or anything like that. Vampires are _created_ by wizards. It requires a lot of deep, dark magic, but the vampires are bound to the one who created them and must obey their every order, whatever it may be. Even if the command is to destroy themselves, they cannot fight it."

"So, essentially Zabini created all of those vampires just to do his bidding, and to fight his battles?" asked Scorpius. Albus nodded in confirmation. Scorpius whistled.

"Well, you did great Potter. You saved us all. Take a little rest," said Scorpius, patting Albus's arm.

"Thanks Malfoy," said Albus as best he could. "I'll just sleep a little, like an hour, then I'll be ready to go."

Scorpius nodded his head. "Yeah, you do that."

Albus didn't even bother to get up and go to his sleeping bag. He lay where he had fallen, and was asleep in a moment.

The others woke an hour or two later to find Scorpius sitting crouched by Albus's sleeping figure, keeping watch over the dark-haired wizard.

"What's going on? Did Albus fall asleep on his watch? Why didn't he wake us all with the break of dawn?" demanded Neville of Scorpius.

Scorpius quickly filled them in on everything that had happened, and they all just listened in awe. "I think we should let him rest a good while. He's completely done in. That's why I didn't wake you guys, I figured that if Potter was getting some rest, I might as well let the rest of you get some more too," said Scorpius once he was done with the tale.

Neville looked thoughtful. "Yes, we'll let him rest another couple of hours, but then we must be off. It's very disturbing that Zabini has started raising vampires, and we need to get back as soon as possible." He looked down at the sleeping figure of Albus. "To do what he did . . . at his age. . . . He's an amazing young wizard. It takes amazing bravery to stand up to vampires, especially that many. We're lucky he somehow knew they were coming, or else we would all have been meals in our sleep."

"Yeah, though I don't think it was good for his already considerable ego. I think Prodigy of the Century wasn't such a far fetched title," said Scorpius, looking up at Neville.

Stephanie sat a little distance away, her back pressed up against a tree. She watched Albus in amazement. She thought that generally in sleep people looked more innocent than they did while they were awake, more peaceful. But that wasn't the case with Albus Potter. His face looked the same as it did while he was awake—guarded, set, and tense. A mask that hid almost all emotion. She could tell that down under all the arrogance, cruelty, and selfishness was a wizard who was made of stern stuff. Someone who was capable of almost anything if he just dedicated himself to it.

Stephanie wasn't sure why Albus pushed people away as best he could. Why he acted the way he did. Maybe it was to protect himself? She couldn't be sure.

Suddenly Albus rolled over and opened his eyes, staring at Stephanie. "Well if this isn't a pleasant sight to wake up to. It's as good as the rising sun any day."

Stephanie tried not to smile. Despite what she had said before, Albus really did have charm—well, when he wanted to at least.

Albus picked himself up with surprising energy. His eyes shone like never before, and a smile rode his features. "What are we all diddle-dawdling around here for? We've got a dark wizard's arse to kick."

Neville turned in surprise. "You sure you ready to go, Albus? You don't need any more rest?"

"Are you kidding me? I've rarely felt better."

Neville seemed dubious. "Okay, if you say so..." Neville switched his gaze over to Scorpius, then back to Albus. "Scorpius here tells us that we all owe you our lives, so thank you."

Albus looked at Scorpius in surprise. "Well it was nothing, really. Any of you would have done the same, I'm sure." He shrugged.

"Except that I don't think any of us _could_ have done that."

"Well it was a lot of luck really... don't mention it..." said Albus gruffly, rolling up his sleeping bag, grabbing his stuff, and leaping onto a broom.

Scorpius stared at Albus in surprise, he had never seen the other boy so uncomfortable with praise before. Then he rose to his feet, and a wide grin spread across his features. "Potter is right, what are we still doing here? We've got a mission to see through to the end!"

Albus shot Scorpius a grateful look.

Hugo leapt to his feet with a cheer. "Yeah let's go!"

Eight figures were soon to be seen shooting through the sky. They flew straight and true with determination and new hope. The glorious morning sun poured around them, lighting them to glowing torches as they soared to meet their destiny.

**Author's Note:**

**I**** liked writing this chapter, ****I**** think mainly because of the scene with the Vampires, ****I**** really like how it was pictured in my mind, and ****I**** hope you guys enjoyed it too. Don't forget to leave a review, and be ready for the next chapter which should be up sometime next week!**


	27. A Surprise

**Author's Note:**

**This chapter took RIDICULOUSLY long to get up, ****I**** know. But my beta has been way over her head in work, and well, she wouldn't let me post it without her editing, because she wanted to see this story through to the end. Anyways, besides this chapter, there are only two others, so we are now very, VERY close to finally being done with this thing. Don't forget to review! It would be a blast to get past the 150 mark.**

Chapter 26: Surprise

When the group arrived back at Hogwarts they found that the school had become something of a camping place. Tents of blue, red, green and gold stretched in all directions across the grounds. Wizards were seen running here and there, but in their midst were also goblins and the occasional giant or centaur.

Lead by Neville, the bedraggled set down right outside the gate to the school's entrance. As they went through, they were immediately caught up in a large commotion. Wizards and witches swarmed in on them from all sides, eager, it seemed, to catch sight of something. The teenagers, confused, quickly closed into a tight knit group.

Then someone yelled above the noise of the crowd: "There it is! I see it! The blonde boy has it!" Scorpius looked up to see a man hovering above him on a broom. The man was still shouting, and pointing, not exactly at Scorpius, but at the axe of Hufflepuff that was in his hand.

"Let's see it! Let's see it! Hold it up, we want to see it!" Someone else bellowed from somewhere in the crowd.

Hesitant, Scorpius looked to Neville for guidance. The professor nodded his head in encouragement.

Scorpius shoved the axe as far into the air as he could manage, holding it aloft for all to see.

The answering cheer was deafening. It was as if all the oceans of the world were crashing down around his ears.

Excitement bubbled up in Scorpius. Caught up in the midst of all of the attention, Scorpius leapt onto his broom and soared into the sky. Flying in circles he swung the axe left and right, pleasing the crowd who continued to whoop and yell.

Suddenly Zoë was there beside him, brandishing Slytherin's dagger to even louder cries from the mass of witches and wizards. She looked slightly uncomfortable though, and Scorpius guessed that Neville must have encouraged her to do it. He flashed her a smile which she returned gratefully.

Finally Scorpius and Zoë returned to the ground. The crowd rushed back in around them, thumping them on the backs and praising their success in retrieving the great weapon from the dwarves.

Then Flitwick and Ginny pushed through the crowd. They were both beaming at the returning group of apparent heroes.

"Well done, well done," Flitwick said, smiling around at them, his eyes pausing on Scorpius, who was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Come on, let's get you all inside," Ginny shepherded them through the crowd and into the castle.

Inside, the school was relatively quiet. Scorpius figured it was because the students must all be in class.

Walking into the Great Hall, they found Draco, Harry, the Minister, and Zacharias Smith already there, sitting around one of the tables. Draco and Harry were both eating, but they looked up and smiled at the returning journeyers when they entered.

Once they were seated, Neville told the story of the adventure north, starting with the arrival of Stephanie, Lily, and Hugo.

Everyone listened attentively until he was done.

"It's a pity the dwarves had to respond with such hostility. What's to stop them from going to Zabini just to spite us for stealing the axe?" asked Michael Corner.

"I'm not sure what they'll do," said Neville, looking thoughtful, "It's true, they may join Zabini after what we did, or fight us directly without bothering to join his army. But it's possible they may stay in their caves, too tired of this whole history with the weapons to even bother coming out."

"Seems doubtful, but I guess you never know with dwarves..."

"I want to know what all's been going on here. What's with the large crowds of goblins and wizards outside?" Scorpius asked, propping his elbows on the table and leaning forward eargerly.

"Should I tell them, or would you like to?" Ginny asked Flitwick.

"You go ahead. You're the one in charge of the whole thing after all," said Flitwick with a twinkle in his eye.

"Well, we found out that Zabini has raised an army. It started with the centaurs, then the giants joined him, and apparently the werewolves are now with him as well. We sent Harry and Draco to scout out information," here she looked over at her husband. "They only just got back this morning."

Scorpius looked at Harry and his dad. Both looked exhausted and disheveled. Dark rings from lack of sleep hollowed out their eyes, and they were both still shoveling down food as if their lives depended on it. But other than that, they seemed to be unharmed and in good health.

"Unfortunately, the excursion was not as successful as we had hoped. They both managed to get into the camp, but as soon as they tried to influence some of the troops against starting a war, they were chased out and narrowly escaped.

"Meanwhile we," she indicated herself, Flitwick, The Minister, and Zacharias Smith, "set about raising our own army." Her eyes shone as she spoke. "We decided there was no point in trying to keep the situation from the general wizarding public any longer. So we had the Minister," she nodded at Corner, "make an official statement in _The Daily Prophet_ about the whole situation. We made it very clear that people didn't have to get involved, but that we needed anyone who could fight and was willing to stand up for England to meet us here.

"That's when the crowds started to pour in." She grinned widely. "I really didn't expect so many people, but it's good to know that there are plenty of people out there ready to fight for what they love.

"The goblins sided with us immediately. They probably assumed that Zabini would seize all their gold if he got his way. A few centaurs and giants joined us, but not many—they seem mostly to have gone to Zabini. And, unfortunately, not a single werewolf has come to us, but I'm optimistic. This information that Zabini has created his own group of vampires is disturbing, but we can deal with it.

"I've given permission for any of the sixth or seventh years at Hogwarts to fight with us if they wish. And, obviously, every Auror we have is on our side, though most of them are out watching Zabini's movements."

"Wait a second!" Everyone turned and stared at Lily. "But that means I won't be able to fight."

"Sorry Lily, but you're a little young," said her mother gently.

"I'm not going to sit this one out! Albus always gets included in everything, but never me. I'm perfectly as capable as the sixth and seventh years, you know that. It's just not fair that all the people I care about are going to be out there fighting, but not me."

"Lily it's just too–"

"Wait," Harry cut his wife off, looking intently at his daughter, as if sizing her up. As if satisfied with what he saw, he declared, "I think she should be allowed to go out there alongside us."

"But Harry–"

"She's right, Ginny; she's just as capable as the older kids. And when we were her age, did being young stop us from leaping into danger? We have no right to say she can't come. Even if we didn't allow her, do you think anything short of magically binding her would stop her from coming after us?"

Lily looked gratefully at her dad.

"Wait a second, but if she can fight, can I go too?" asked Hugo.

Ginny sighed, but Harry smiled as he answered. "If your mom and dad agree Hugo, but somehow I don't think they'll stop you."

"Who's going to wield the weapons?" Albus spoke up for the first time.

"That's something we still need to decide on," said the Minister.

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious: Draco should use the dagger, and Zacharias the axe. What better choices could we pick?" Scorpius experienced a sinking feeling in his chest as Ginny said the words. It was as if a miniature version of the titanic had just hit an iceberg somewhere in his stomach, and was slowly going down.

"No. Scorpius and Zoë should be the ones to use them," said Albus harshly, to everyone's—especially Scorpius's—surprise.

"But Albus, Draco and Zacharias are older, they're Aurors, and they're more experienced," said Ginny gently.

Albus's voice softened up slightly. "Yes, that's true, but Scorpius and Zoë have earned it, and they also know how to use the devices. Rasputin gave the dagger to Zoë, and Scorpius has shown he deserves the axe, so it makes the most sense for the two of them to be the ones to have them—at least for this battle, anyway."

The titanic seemed to be slowly rising back to the surface. Scorpius hadn't expected Albus to be on his side in this one. It felt good to have the other boy backing him up.

"I agree with Mr. Potter," said Flitwick, a calm smile on his face.

"But to put the swaying factor of such a battle on the shoulders of two so young?" asked Zacharias, hesitant.

"We've put so much on them already, I would hardly see it as too great a step to show a little faith in them and let them prove themselves even further."

"But the whole fate of England...?" asked Corner weakly.

"Yes, the whole fate of England, for they are very nearly of age, and they are the next generation. Will not the fate of England be theirs once we are gone? I have faith in them. They are ready." Flitwick turned and gave the younger members of the group a wide smile. Scorpius felt his heart go out with gratitude to the headmaster.

Harry was looking thoughtfully at all the students. His piercing green eyes roved from face to face. "I think Flitwick is right. I'm not trying to sound arrogant or anything, but it was the teens who played a large part in bringing down Voldemort all those years ago, and it could easily be the same now."

Ginny sighed heavily. "It seems like I'll never get my way when it comes to this group of kids." Harry sent her a quick smile. "Well if that's the way it's to be, then all of you should probably go rest. Who knows when Zabini will make his move, but you'll need to have your strength back."

"That is a very good idea, Mrs. Potter," said Flitwick, still beaming around at them all.

The teenagers rose and left side-by-side.

At the door leading into the entrance hall, Scorpius turned back, noticing that Albus had halted in the middle of the doorway.

Albus was staring back at the adults who were all still sitting at one of the tables.

"Something wrong, Potter?" asked Scorpius, watching Albus's face.

Albus didn't bother to look at Scorpius as he spoke. "You know, my parents have never wanted anything but the best for me, and I've been such a...such an ass—especially recently." Now he looked up at Scorpius, his expression completely blank. "I've been such a jerk to everyone, but it was the worst treating my parents so badly. They've given so much for me."

Scorpius strode over so that he was standing next to Albus. Gently, he laid his hand on the dark-haired boy's shoulder. "Well, it's never too late to make it right."

Albus's gaze flicked from Scorpius's face, back to his parents in the Great Hall. Wordlessly he walked over to them.

Scorpius watched as Albus drew his parents aside, and started talking to them. Slowly Scorpius turned around, only to find Stephanie waiting for him.

"You think they'll be alright?" she asked, jerking her chin towards Albus and his parents.

"Yeah, I think so. They'll work it out," he replied, not bothering to look back.

Scorpius slung his arm around Stephanie as they headed to their common room together. "It'll be good having you there next to me in the battle, Steph. No matter what the outcome is."

"I couldn't agree more."

The next morning Scorpius entered the Great Hall for breakfast and looked around for any of his friends. He caught sight of Albus at the Ravenclaw table and sauntered over to sit across from him.

"Morning, Potter."

"Hey, Malfoy," said Albus, looking up from his food.

"How did the talk with your parents go?"

Albus looked up at the head table where Ginny and Harry were eating. "Good. Very good."

"That's great," Scorpius grinned from ear to ear.

The next thing he knew Lily was sitting down by Albus's side, and grabbing some toast. "Boy am I hungry! I forgot to eat dinner last night."

"How do you forget to eat dinner?' asked Scorpius, intrigued.

Lily waved his question away. "I had plenty of other things on my mind."

The next instant Stephanie was seated on one side of Scorpius, and Zoë was on the other.

"Whoa, you guys came out of nowhere," exclaimed Scorpius.

"I just have extraordinary talents," said Stephanie, helping herself to a large helping of food.

"Well, I don't have as much talent as her, but I've got Slytherin's dagger for that," said Zoë with a smile.

"You used the dagger just for something stupid like that?" asked Scorpius, rather aghast.

Zoë laughed. "Of course not Scorpius. I was just kidding."

"Sheesh," said Scorpius, grabbing some pumpkin juice.

Scorpius looked over at Albus, and found him staring open-mouthed at something in the entrance to the hall.

Scorpius swiveled in his chair to see what Albus was gazing at. Two men stood side-by-side, the one on the right had a head full of red hair and was stocky; the one on the left was tall and lean, with a mop of brown hair. They both wore outfits completely made of leather.

Albus stood hastily to his feet, still staring. The taller man saw the sudden movement and looked over. He grinned as soon as caught sight of Albus.

Albus and the man suddenly ran towards each other, meeting halfway in a fierce embrace.

Scorpius's brow furrowed in confusion. "Lily, who is that?" He turned back towards the table just as Lily rose slowly to her feet.

"That's our brother, James!" Lily cried out ecstatically. She quickly rushed over to join her siblings.

"Yeah, I remember the bloke. He only finished school at Hogwarts a year or two ago, right?" asked Scorpius, turning to Stephanie. She shrugged.

"It was two years ago," answered Zoë. "He went to Romania to work with dragons with his uncle, Charlie Weasley, once he graduated."

"Ah, I see," said Scorpius, turning back to look at the reunion of the Potter family. They had now been joined by their parents. Scorpius had never seen Albus look that happy. He was surprised, but glad for him.

Scorpius shoveled down the last of his food and got to his feet. "I think I'm going to go take a walk outside."

"Mmm kay." said Stephanie, around her mouthful of food.

Once outside, Scorpius looked around. The grounds were even more crowded than the day before. Tents were plotted everywhere there was enough room for them. Gold, green, blue, or scarlet flags flew from each tent, showing which house the members had been apart of when at school. Goblins ran here and there, carrying armor and swords. Wizards and witches milled around the grass, talking to one another. A couple centaurs were by the Forbidden Forest, practicing archery. The few giants who were around were seeing how far they could chuck boulders into the lake.

Scorpius walked down to the lake, and started along the path that ran around it. His eyes swooped back and forth, watching those who had assembled. Occasionally he would smile or nod when someone he didn't know waved at him.

"Scorpius, wait up!" Scorpius turned, half expecting that it would be Albus. It wasn't.

Zoë smiled at him as she caught up with him. Scorpius returned the gesture. "Hey," he said as they started walking again.

"Boy, how did we get to this? Being, in a sense, the hope of a whole nation? Being the 'heroes' of a war?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Believe me, I don't know. It's exciting, but kind of nerve wracking to think that so many people are counting on us."

"You bet. It's nice to know that so many believe in us, though—like Flitwick, Harry, and even Albus."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting Albus to be the one to speak up and say that we should be the ones to use the weapons." Scorpius looked off over the lake. The water was crystal clear. The ripples caused by giant-thrown boulders blazed with reflected sunlight.

"You ready for all this?" he asked, looking at Zoë with some concern.

"Yeah, I believe so. A couple of weeks ago I would have said no way, but after all that's happened recently...I've changed a lot in the last few days."

"You're not the only one; we've all been affected." They were rounding the far shore of the lake now.

Zoë pulled Slytherin's dagger out of her robes, and looked at it intently. The sun caused the blade to shine like a miniature sun. The emeralds were blazing green pinpricks of fire along the hilt.

"Such a small thing to be so powerful—to have so much hanging in the balance over it."

"You can say that again," said Scorpius looking at it thoughtfully. "One item that powerful shouldn't exist, much less four of them."

"Once this whole thing is over, if we – if we win, what are we going to do about the weapons? As long as they're out there, people like Zabini will just keep coming back for them."

"I don't know. I wonder if they can be destroyed, though I don't think it's likely."

Zoë sighed. "I guess we should just worry about that _after_ we deal with Zabini and his army."

"I'd definitely say so. Zabini is quite enough for us to handle at the moment.

They had just about completed their circuit of the lake.

Zoë looked at Scorpius out of her deep, dark eyes. "Thanks for being such a good friend Scorpius."

"You too, Zoë—you too. I'll look out for you out there; we'll all look out for each other."

They were just heading back up the slope to the castle when Albus came hurrying down towards them.

Albus skidded to a halt just in front of them, his eyes aglow.

"What Potter? What's wrong?" asked Scorpius, alarmed.

"Nothing's wrong. Zabini's army is moving out, so so do we. We're going to meet him, right now. We're finally going to end this."


	28. The Battle Begins

**Author's Note:**

**If you're reading this, thanks for your patience. ****I**** know it's been ridiculously long, but this is ****the**** second to last chapter! The finale should be coming "relatively" soon =P. ****I**** say relatively because you know how this story had been going. Anyways, enjoy.**

Chapter 27: The Battle Begins

It was quite a hubbub getting everyone up and moving, but eventually they were all on their way.

The army was a large, noisy mass of creatures, both human and otherwise. They tromped along side-by-side, going to meet their fate–whatever that happened to be. Those few who had brought brooms flew above the mass of beings, doubling back whenever they got too far ahead.

It took them the rest of that day and all of the next to get where they were going.

They finally met up with Zabini's army at a large plain in the middle of nowhere. On each side of the plain was a small hill. One of which Zabini's army was camped around, and the other of which Ginny's army posted themselves.

The tents of each army faced each other across the open expanse like two cowboys in a muggle film, about to have a showdown at high noon: both sides motionless, waiting for someone to make a move.

Scorpius stood next to Albus, staring across the plain as the sun slowly sank in the west. "What do you suppose we're waiting for?" he asked.

"For them to make the first move," said Albus somberly.

"And what do you think they're waiting for?"

"The night, most likely."

"Why?"

"You forget so soon, Malfoy? Zabini's elite force is his vampires, and vampires can't come out in the sun."

"Right, of course," muttered Scorpius. "So why don't we attack now? That way he wouldn't be able to use his vampires."

Albus shrugged. "It wouldn't really make that much of a difference. Who knows how long the battle will last? It definitely won't be short, that's for sure. So if we attack now, it will be dark soon anyway and then the vampires will come. We might have gained a slight advantage for a little while, but we won't really be able to tell how the two armies are matched up until the vampires are out, so we might just end up overestimating ourselves, which could be fatal."

Scorpius shook his head in wonder. "Your brain truly is something, Potter."

Albus smiled ruefully. "Thanks, Malfoy."

"You know, I never thanked you for backing me up in that 'meeting'."

Albus blinked at him, not comprehending. "What are you talking about?"

"When you told everyone that I should be the one to use the axe, and Zoë the dagger. Thanks for standing up for me like that."

"Oh, no problem. It's true though, you should be the one to use the axe; it only makes sense."

"Maybe," answered Scorpius, staring off towards the red and orange glow that was the last bit of sun disappearing over the edge of the world. Unconsciously he moved his hand and put it on the shaft of the axe, which was slung across his back in a makeshift holster of leather. It was a comforting presence in face of the chaos that was to come.

Scorpius flicked his gaze over to watch Albus. The boy's hair was outlined with the ruby light, making his unruly locks look like licks of fire going in all directions. His eyes were orbs of piercing emerald with pinpoints of flame in the center of the dark pupils.

"Malfoy?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Do think, even if we can defeat his army, that we can overcome Zabini? He's so strong...it's almost inhuman."

Coldness seeped through Scorpius's bones, permeating his whole being, and clutching at his heart. He was not eager to meet Zabini again, not after all they had gone through. For the first time, he truly started to doubt whether or not they could defeat him. Here was Albus, a far more powerful wizard than Scorpius, wondering if they could bring him down. If Albus didn't have any hope, then how could Scorpius possibly?

But suddenly, words that Flitwick had told him over a week ago flashed through his head. _It is crucial that you do not lose heart, no matter what may happen. _A little bit of warmth returned to Scorpius. More of the headmaster's words came to the forefront of his mind. _Always encourage the others, Scorpius. They will need it on this journey, and you are the best source to offer it. _The heat in Scorpius's body started to grow, tracing through his veins. _I'm counting on you, Scorpius. I believe in you._

"We can, and we will Potter." Albus looked up at him in surprise. "None of us could defeat him alone, but together, with our friends, we can surmount and overcome the impossible." He grinned over at Albus. "I believe in you, Albus Potter." He clapped Albus hard on the shoulder.

"You really think that?" asked Albus.

"Yes. Yes I do," said Scorpius, watching as the last of the sun's rays disappeared completely.

Just as the last bit of sunlight disappeared, blood-curling screams split the air, coming from Zabini's camp. It was a sound that made you want to turn and run.

"So it will begin," said Albus in a whisper.

Movement could be seen across the plain, figures emerging from tents and donning weapons.

Behind the boys, their camp suddenly burst to life as well. Goblins—head-to-toe in armor and chain-mail, and bearing scimitars or crossbows—quickly lined up in formation. Wizards drew their wands, and some leapt onto brooms, taking to the skies. The few giants heaved their large boulders and the tree branches they used as clubs. Centaurs notched arrows to bows.

Scorpius was surprised to recognize Sairon as the centaur cantered up to him and Albus.

"Greetings, young ones. I had hoped that when we met again it would be under good circumstances, but alas! It was not to be."

"I thought you said you couldn't fight your family—your brethren?" asked Scorpius, remembering back to when they had met Sairon in the Forbidden Forest.

Sairon looked out at the lines of centaurs forming across the plain, and sighed heavily. "At one point I could not have, but they have simply taken it too far. They have started a war that will cost so many lives, cause so much suffering."

"Well, I'm glad to have you fighting by our side, Sairon," said Albus with a nod.

"As am I, youngling." The centaur bowed deeply.

Suddenly Stephanie and Zoë were by their sides. "Hey, boys," said Stephanie with a grim smile. "Ready for this?"

"As much as ever, I guess," said Scorpius, drawing Hufflepuff's axe.

Zoë already had Slytherin's dagger in one hand, her wand drawn in the other.

Albus was twirling his wand back and forth between his fingers. "If one of us doesn't make it out of this alive, I'm glad I knew all of you. And I apologize that I was such a jerk before, and I'm sorry that I won't be able to get to know you better."

Stephanie smiled at him. "Well, I have every intention of getting to know more of you after this. So I plan on living through it, and you darn well must, too."

Albus looked at her in surprise, then grinned widely. "That will give me all that much more determination to live."

Scorpius turned to Zoë and whispered quietly in her ear. "If everything goes wrong—if we all die—use the dagger. Go invisible and just get away. Leave the country, go somewhere else." He drew back slightly, looking at her, pleading with her.

Zoë's eyes hardened. "No. If no one here lives, I won't want to live either. I'd much rather die with all of you, than go on in a darker world."

Scorpius let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He smiled. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that logic. Since I would feel the same way."

Scorpius looked up, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. Zabini's army had started to march across the plain. They were coming.

The next thing Scorpius knew their army was tromping forward to meet Zabini's. Two dark masses in the night marched towards each other. It seemed almost like a dream to Scorpius, but he knew there would be no waking up from this nightmare.

Both armies broke into a sprint as they neared each other. Loud battle cries tore through the air, and in that instant there was a crash like the sound of a massive breaker hitting the side of a cliff.

Giants ran back and forth, kicking opponents flying into the air, or using their boulders and branches to deal devastating damage. Centaurs were raining arrows in all directions. Goblins screamed as they hacked with their scimitars. Werewolves (not turned, but still stronger than your average human) dealt blows left and right with their long arms, or used spells to blast their opponents around. Normal witches and wizards hexed their enemies as best they could, the ones on brooms flying left and right, striking and then racing back.

The elites of the two armies were the Aurors for Ginny's side, and the vampires for Zabini's forces.

Wherever the Aurors struck, heavy damage was inflicted to the dark wizard's men. But the vampires fought back with ruthless ferocity, killing and maiming with every stroke of their claws and fangs.

Scorpius was in the thick of the fight. He swirled through the chaos, hacking at the enemy with Hufflepuff's axe. He caught sight of many familiar faces as he fought. He saw Lily, her burning red hair dancing in the air as she fired a slew of hexes at one of Zabini's cloaked lackeys they had faced so many times before. For a second he saw his dad toppling a giant. There was one of Albus's uncles, wrestling a werewolf to the ground. Hermione was fifty yards off, dodging arrows that a centaur was shooting after her.

A giant picked Scorpius up by the back of his robes as he finished dispatching a werewolf. Scorpius struggled and kicked, but the giant didn't even seem to notice. Drawing his hand back, the giant prepared to hurl him across the plain. Bringing the axe up and over his head, Scorpius let it drop down behind him. The axe cut deeply into the giant's forearm, and he howled in pain, dropping Scorpius.

Scorpius took the fall lightly and rolled into a standing position. Charging the giant, he swung the axe around, chopping off a leg at the knee, and causing the giant to fall heavily.

Thinking the giant wasn't going to be anymore trouble, Scorpius turned, looking for his next opponent.

Scorpius's eyes locked on Albus, who was about ten yards away, fiercely dueling with a man in black, while a vampire slowly stalked him from behind.

"Albus, watch out!" Scorpius screamed as loudly as he could.

Albus turned, saw the vampire, and ducked just in time to dodge the razor sharp claws. He fired a hex at the pale creature, but the vampire was already gone. Albus's eyes widened in surprise just as he was hit from the side, flying ten or so feet into the side of a centaur. He fell to the ground, slightly dazed.

Albus shook his head to try to clear it as the vampire approached him, coming in for the kill. The vampire vanished a second time, appearing again mere inches from Albus. Leaning over him it hissed, "Ready to die? You should not have refused the master."

This time it was Albus's turn to completely disappear. The vampire's eyes widened in disbelieving shock. Albus appeared a second later, directly behind the monster's back. "Goodbye, you vile filth."

There was a flash of light and a scream from the vampire as its heart exploded outwards. A moment later the creature disintegrated to dust.

Meanwhile, Scorpius was locked in battle with a werewolf. He slammed the shaft of his axe into its chest, knocking it backwards. Taking the opportunity, he brought the axe back, around, up and over. The werewolf let out a cry as the axe shred through his shoulder and deep into his chest.

Scorpius turned, looking for another opponent, and caught sight of Zoë. She was hanging from the hilt of Slytherin's dagger which was buried in the back of a giant. The giant was twisting back and forth, swinging its arms and trying to dislodge its attacker. Zoë was being jerked back and forth, and didn't look like she was going to be able to hold on much longer.

Scorpius sprinted towards the giant, axe in hand and ready to use. He swung it around and slammed the side of the blade into the front of the giant's leg, knocking the beast onto his chest. Another blow to the giant's exposed neck, and he was dead.

"Thanks," said Zoë breathlessly, wiping sweaty hair from her eyes.

"Anytime," Scorpius replied, with a shifty grin.

"Where is Zabini, and Gryffindor's sword, and Ravenclaw's bow?" asked Zoë anxiously. "I haven't seen any of them."

Scorpius's eyes quickly snapped around the battle field, looking for the items in question, as well making sure that no enemy was taking advantage of their temporary distraction from the fight.

Zoë was right. Scorpius couldn't see a sign of Zabini or the weapons. He didn't that is, until his eyes roved to the small hill on their enemy's side of the plain.

There, up above the fight, he could see three dark silhouettes. They stood motionless, surveying the battle that was being fought at their feet. Scorpius was too far away to make out any details, and the moonlight was dim, but he just knew that that trio had to be Zabini and the two minions who would be wielding sword and bow.

"Look, there they are!" Scorpius gestured towards the dark figures.

"You sure?" asked Zoë, yelling to be heard over the din of battle.

Scorpius nodded in response. "We've got to confront them. We need to end this before too much life is lost."

Fear, followed quickly by determination, flashed across Zoë's face. "Let's do this then." She clutched Slytherin's dagger more tightly.

"Watch out!" Zoë ducked as Scorpius swung his axe over her head and sliced a charging werewolf across the face.

"We need to get Albus," said Scorpius as Zoë straightened to her full height again.

Albus wasn't very far away, locked in a tight duel with two men. Just as Zoë and Scorpius ran up to him, he broke through his enemies' defenses, and took his opponents down.

"Albus, Zabini!" said Scorpius, pointing to the hilltop.

Albus looked to where Scorpius's finger stretched, and nodded.

Together the three teenagers battled their way through the opposing forces, slowly drawing closer and closer to their target.

Just as they got to the bottom of the hill, Lily came swooping out of the sky on a broom, pulling up sharply besides them.

"I'm going to fight Zabini with you," she said, determined.

"I don't know Lily..." hesitated Albus, unsure.

Before Lily could protest, Scorpius butted in. "Wait Albus, I think she should come with."

"Why? To just endanger another person? We may end up dying facing Zabini!" said Albus, not persuaded.

"But look, if Lily comes with us, we have one person from each house. If we happen to recover Gryffindor's sword, we'll need her. Besides, with four of us we outnumber them, and we form a complete set—one from each house—just like the founders. It just seems better this way, more right."

Albus looked his sister up and down. "I guess you're right, Scorpius. Let's go."

Together, side-by-side, the four friends struggled up the hill. They went hopefully, fearfully, and with determination and courage. They went to face their destiny, their fate, whatever that might turn out to be.

**Author's Note:**

**Please review! This is the second to last chapter, and ****I**** would REALLY like to break 150 reviews. That's only a few more, but ****I**** need your help!**


	29. The Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

**The bitter-sweet finish!**

Chapter 28: The Confrontation

Zabini stood waiting for them on the top of the hill. He was flanked by two men. One Scorpius recognized from the fight at Hogwarts as the man called Dean Thomas. Dean held the sword of Gryffindor in one hand.

The other man was pale and tall, but not someone Scorpius had seen before. In his hand he held a bow that was almost as tall as himself, and that was inlaid with Sapphires up and down its length. The bow of Ravenclaw.

Zabini smiled lightly at the four of them.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Well, you could have made it easier for everyone involved, and just come to us," said Albus irritably.

"Impertinent, as always, Potter," said Zabini coolly.

"Yes, I have a lot of arrogance, just ask Malfoy about that."

"Don't get me started on it," said Scorpius dryly.

"You chose the losing side, Potter. You should have joined me. I would have given you power, all that you wanted. You could have had Ravenclaw's bow." Zabini eyes were locked on Albus.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not interested in a world of ash and sorrow. I don't want a world without my friends."

"If you join me, I will let your friends live. As it is, they will die, as slowly and painfully as I can make it."

Albus hesitated, looking at his sister, Scorpius, and then Zoë.

"Don't listen to him," whispered Lily. "He's lying."

"Am I? What would I lose letting a couple of harmless children go? Their lives are in your hands." Zabini was staring at Albus with what Scorpius recognized as desire.

"I already turned your creatures of Hell down, now you make me repeat myself? Even if I could trust you, I can't sacrifice all of England for the four of us. I've been terribly selfish in the past, and I won't continue to be."

"So be it," Zabini said quietly. "Eustice, the girl."

Even though both Zoë and Lily where there, everyone knew he meant Zoë.

Zoë instantly vanished.

Scorpius leapt forward, swinging his axe up and over, bringing it down towards Zabini, but Dean was too quick, blocking Scorpius's blow with the sword of Gryffindor. A sound like rolling thunder exploded as the two great weapons crashed together, locking against each other. The sound could be heard across the entire battlefield.

Together, Lily and Albus attacked Zabini, dueling him furiously.

Something flickered in Scorpius's peripheral vision. Still exchanging blows with Dean, he chanced a glance at it, confused. The air seemed to be shimmering, and moving back and forth.

Eustice—the man in possession of Ravenclaw's bow—had an arrow notched to his great weapon. Aiming, he let it fly at the shimmering air.

A scream of pain rent the night sky. The bit of air shimmered more thickly. There was a thud, and Zoë appeared kneeling on the ground, an arrow protruding from her forearm, blood pouring down and dripping off her fingers, and Slytherin's dagger lying on the ground in front of her.

Lily threw her glance to Zoë for an instant, distracted. Zabini took the opening and blasted Lily to the floor.

Scorpius, bewildered and worried by the sudden turn of events, was caught off guard when Dean pulled the sword of Gryffindor back and swung it around, hitting Scorpius hard in the side of the face with the ruby studded hilt. Scorpius fell back onto his rear end, blood trickling down his cheek.

Only Albus remained on his feet. He was dueling Zabini, fiercer than ever and determined to make up the deficit caused by his friends' sudden injuries.

To Scorpius's surprise, it seemed that Zabini was actually working very hard to keep up with Albus's furious onslaught.

Finally, Zabini managed to get a spell around Albus's guard. Just as the hex was about to connect with Albus, Scorpius saw a smug grin spread across his friend's features. Albus spun on his foot and disappeared.

Albus reappeared instantly on the other side of Zabini, furiously attacking once more. Zabini was quick in whipping around to counter him.

Scorpius started to get gingerly to his feet, but then Dean was on him again, whacking away with his sword.

Scorpius ground his teeth together with frustration as he was worked steadily backwards, ever on the defensive.

Zoë reached out with her uninjured hand to grab Slytherin's dagger. "Touch it, and she dies," said Eustice with the bow of Ravenclaw turned on the motionless figure of Lily. Zoë hissed angrily, and sat back.

Albus and Zabini were still dueling, the fate of England tied up in their fight. Once again Zabini got past Albus's defenses, and once again Albus disappeared and reappeared behind Zabini.

Zabini smiled once Albus did the trick for the second time. "I'm more impressed than ever. To be able to Apparate like that under such pressure, and on a split-second's notice! It must take quite the concentration. Not many fully trained wizards could do that. I've never even tried it myself; it must be very difficult."

Albus laughed out loud, while still sending jinx after jinx at Zabini. Scorpius didn't know what his friend could find so funny at a time like this. "I'm glad you think so, Zabini. It did take me quite a while to master."

Just then Dean brought the sword of Gryffindor swinging down. Scorpius moved to block it, but wasn't quite fast enough. The sword sliced a long gash down Scorpius's shoulder and arm, running all the way to his elbow.

Luckily for Scorpius, it wasn't his dominate arm, but that didn't stop him from crying out in agony and staggering back.

Albus cast a quick glance of worry over at his blonde friend. Zabini took the moment of distraction to send a slew of curses at his opponent.

Albus once more Apparated away. This time he didn't reappear behind Zabini, but a good ten yards from him.

"What? You running Potter? Are you scared? Are you going to leave all your friends here to die?" sneered Zabini.

"Hardly." said Albus. "I was going to see how far I could get without resorting to this, but I can't fool around and let my friends be put through pain. You were impressed at my ability to Apparate under pressure like this, so I want to know what you think of my next set of moves."

Suddenly Albus was gone. He reappeared behind Zabini, firing a volley of spells. Zabini turned, deflecting the shots, but then Albus disappeared again. He was now back on the other side of Zabini, firing off more hexes. As Zabini whirled around, Albus popped up over to his right, once more shooting jinxes and jets of light.

"Impossible!" screamed Zabini, turning to defend himself from the latest attacks. "Eustice, get him!"

Eustice fired an arrow that struck Slytherin's dagger, knocking it a good ways from Zoë to prevent her from getting it easily. Once he had done that, he turned, firing bolt after bolt at Albus.

Albus Apparated away, laughing as he disappeared. He reappeared somewhere else, firing more spells. He was forced to Apparate again as more arrows came at him.

Zabini turned, and ran for the dagger of Slytherin. Albus saw where he was going, and Apparated to the dagger to protect it. But Zabini had predicted that, and Albus had barely appeared when a jet of black light struck his chest. Albus was launched back twenty feet and landed with a loud thud on the ground.

Zabini bent over and picked up the gleaming blade that was now at his feet. His gaze lingered on the emeralds in the weapon's hilt before scanning over to where Albus was struggling into a kneeling position.

"I must say, you have great potential. Very great indeed. No wizard has ever been able to Apparate so many times, so fast, and in such a small proximity too. To be able to do that without giving yourself even a minor Splinch…" Zabini shook his head. "The concentration, the foresight! You must have been thinking at least three or four Apparations into the future to be able to pull that off so well. You really do belong in Ravenclaw with a mind that capable. It's such a pity I'll have to kill you. If you had joined me no one would have been able to stand against us. But you know it's now over: I have three of the weapons, and you barely have one." Zabini looked over to where Scorpius sat slumped on the ground, covered in blood, with the sword of Gryffindor pressed to his throat. Dean stood waiting for direction from Zabini.

Albus struggled to a standing position just in time to see Zabini disappear. Scorpius could see the same weird shimmer in the air as when Zoë had turned invisible. The shimmer suddenly started to move towards Albus, but Albus stood still, not sure what to do. Didn't he see the shimmer? wondered Scorpius. But before Scorpius could say anything, the shimmer was behind Albus. Albus let out a scream as blood gushed from a wound appearing above the back of his knee.

Albus collapsed weakly to the ground as Zabini reappeared in the place of the shimmer, chuckling. Scorpius suddenly realized that for some odd reason he could now see whoever it was that went invisible, if only just barely. _It must be that the axe lets me see them._

Zabini gave a vicious kick to Albus's wand hand, sending the teenager's only weapon spinning away.

"I will make you pay for your decision to go against me, Potter. I'm going to kill your friends right before your eyes, and you will be helpless to do anything," said Zabini coldly.

Scorpius watched in wide-eyed fear as Zabini strode towards him.

Zabini stopped in front of, and slightly to the right of Scorpius, standing right besides Dean.

Not waiting for Zabini to make the first move, Scorpius swung Hufflepuff's axe up and at Zabini. Zabini reacted quickly, moving the dagger to block the blow.

Something very unexpected happened next. In one quick movement, Dean brought Gryffindor's sword away from Scorpius's neck, and brought it around, slicing at Zabini's exposed side.

This didn't seem to catch Zabini completely off guard—as if a small part of him had expected to be betrayed . He reacted instantly, but he wasn't quite fast enough. As he spun away, bringing the dagger across to protect himself, the sword sliced a gash down his side. He hissed in pain.

"Eustice!" Zabini yelled.

Eustice responded as if he, too, had almost expected the turn of events. He spun around, an arrow already notched to the bow of Ravenclaw. There was a soft _twang, _and then the arrow was whipping through the air so fast it was hard to see. There was a grunt from Dean as he staggered a few paces back, and collapsed to the ground next to Scorpius. Gryffindor's sword hit the earth with a soft thump. A shaft protruded from Dean's heart.

Scorpius stared with wide eyes as Dean choked and struggled on the ground.

"I was wondering when that idiot was going to backstab us, I was never convinced he was on our side," said Zabini with disdain. His side was dark with blood, and his hand was clasped to it. "You can never trust Gryffindors."

Scorpius could hear the sound of the battle still raging below them, but it seemed so distant. Behind Zabini and a little bit away, he could see Lily starting to move into a sitting position, but neither Eustice nor Zabini noticed her. Scorpius looked over to see Zoë slowly sliding her wand out of her clothes, while Albus inched towards his wand.

"Time to get this over with," said Zabini, turning back to Scorpius.

"Yes, I agree," said Scorpius quietly.

Scorpius lunged to his feet in one swift, jerky movement. Using all his strength, he pressed his toe under the sword of Gryffindor, and kicked it as hard as he could in Lily's direction. It soared through the air and landed with a thud a few feet from Lily. Lily rushed to the sword, scooped it up, and charged towards Zabini.

Scorpius jumped forward, attempting to take Zabini by surprise, but Zabini blocked his attack easily.

Eustice notched an arrow to his bow, taking aim at Lily as she sprinted towards Zabini.

Hastily trying to distract him, Zoë fired a spell at Eustice. This forced Eustice to jump aside, without having time to fire off his shaft. Just as he was once again preparing to shoot, Zoë sent another hex his way.

Eustice swore as he danced out of the way once more. This time he turned and fired at Zoë. She was still on her knees, and bleeding from her forearm. She couldn't move in time. The arrow buried deeply into her shoulder. With a scream of pain, Zoë peeled over backwards and lay rolling on the ground.

Albus had now managed to hobble over to his wand. Picking it up, he spun on the spot, Disapparating. The next instant he appeared behind Eustice, who once again had his bow trained on Lily. Eustice fell over silently onto his face as Albus stunned him from behind.

Meanwhile, Scorpius, Lily, and Zabini were locked in a perilous tornado of death. All three of them whirled back and forth, exchanging blows back and forth.

The axe and the sword had a much greater reach than Zabini's dagger, but he was excellent at wielding the weapon. He spun in and out, back and forth, positioning himself just perfectly so that Lily and Scorpius kept having to check their swings to make sure they didn't hit each other.

Scorpius's attacks were starting to slow, as he continued to lose blood through his injuries. Zabini, on the other hand, didn't seem to even notice the gash down his side.

Scorpius looked for some way to end the fight, knowing that every moment he got weaker, and so did Zoë, who lay motionless where she had fallen.

Out of the corner of his eye Scorpius saw Albus standing with the bow of Ravenclaw in his hand–an arrow notched to the string.

With a flash of insight, Scorpius saw what needed to be done. He leapt towards Zabini, bringing his axe down for a blow. Zabini blocked it easily, but Lily stabbed with her sword just a split-second after Scorpius's attack.

Zabini started to twist out of the way, just as Albus let go of the string of Ravenclaw's bow. "Time for you to go where belong, you murdering filth."

Zabini was caught in the momentum of his movement, unable to stop himself. His eyes widened with fear for the first time as the arrow flew towards him, strong and true. He managed to jerk himself slightly to the side, turning invisible, but the shaft seemed to change its path as Zabini himself did.

There was a gurgling, choked cry, as Zabini reappeared and fell to the ground—a feathered arrow sticking straight through his throat.

"It's over," said Albus, a weary smile spreading across his face, just before he collapsed to the ground.

"Albus!" Lily rushed over to him.

"I'm okay," he smiled up at her from where he sat on the ground. "It's just my knee hurts to stand on. But you should go get help—probably Mum would be best. She needs to know right away about . . . that," he gestured towards Zabini's prone figure. "And we all need help with our injuries, especially Zoë," he looked over at where Zoë lay, passed out from the loss of blood. "She'll be fine, but she needs help reasonably soon.

Lily nodded, running down the hill and jumping astride the broom she had left in the valley, soaring into the air.

Scorpius slowly trod over to where Albus sat, and plopped himself down heavily beside him.

Scorpius looked out at the battle that was slowly starting to wind down, but that still had figures fighting here and there.

"You think everything is going to be okay?" Scorpius asked Albus.

Albus smiled again. "Yes, everything will be. Once they learn Zabini is dead, and we have all four weapons, the rest of his army will surrender."

"And what about the dwarves?"

"I'm sure a deal will be cut that will satisfy their anger. We'll probably end up giving them all four of the weapons to compensate, but I can't imagine them turning that deal down. Besides, it will probably be best—the weapons can't cause much destruction if they're locked up below ground for century after century."

Scorpius looked over at Dean's dead body. "Looks like your mum was right, he was loyal to our side till the end."

"Yeah, and it's a good thing too. If he had been on their side, and he hadn't sacrificed himself to injure Zabini, I don't think we would have won."

They were silent for a few moments.

"For the first time in my life, I'm looking forward to the future," said Albus, his green eyes distant.

"Oh?"

Albus looked over at Scorpius with gratitude.

"I owe you a lot, Scorpius."

"For what?"

"For giving me my life."

**Author's Note:**

**I**** hope you enjoyed it. ****I**** know it was a long road, but at last we have come to the end of my first novel-length story. ****I**** would like to thank all of you who pushed this fanfiction to 150 reviews! ****It would have been a lot harder without your support. And thanks also to all of you who subscribed to either me as an Author, or to the story, or who added me to your favorite Author's list or the story to your favorite stories list. Each time I got one of those emails was amazing.**

**If you liked my story, you can find my newest fanfiction on my profile. Also Harry Potter, and also the next generation. I personally think it is a lot better than this one, but I'll let you judge. If you enjoyed this story, and you like my work, you should definitely check it out.**


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